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Special    M  eithod 


GEOGRAPHY 


Third    and    fourth    Grades 


Charles  a.    McMurrv,   Rm.D, 


8631 


FIFTH       EDITION 
REVISED      AND       MUCH        ENLARGED 


l«    ><     X    J 

PU  BLIG-SCHOOL       PUBLISHING       COMPANY 

BLOOM  I  NGTON,       ILI 


('ojijiriijlil.  1S95 

By  Charles  A.  McMurry, 
Normal.  III. 


Press  and  Hindi  ry 

Pantagraph  Printing  and  Stationery  Co., 

Bloominqton.  III. 


SRLF. 

'!%c/-7  85626  2 

PREFACE. 


This  little  book  is  designed  to  outline  and  illus- 
trate a  plan  for  the  study  of  geography  in  third 
and  fourth  grades. 

After  a  closer  survey  of  home  objects  in  third 
grade,  it  lays  the  scene  of  operations  for  the  fourth 
grade  in  the  Mississippi  Valley.  A  series  of  type 
studies  of  great  fullness  and  detail  is  worked  out, 
with  the  aim  of  making  geography  thoroughly  in- 
structive and  stimulating  to  children. 

The  "Pioneer  History  Stories  of  the  Mississippi 
Valley"  are  used  in  the  same  grade  and  cover  ex- 
actly the  same  area  as  the  geography  topics,  so 
that  the  relation  between  history  and  geography 
is  intimate  and  many-sided. 

The  natural  science  topics  treated  in  the  grade 
are  also  largely  suggested  by  the  geography  and 
history.  This  enables  us.  therefore,  to  illustrate 
more  fully  the  plan  of  concentration  of  studies 
discussed  in  the  "General  Method."' 

This  book  is  one  of  a  series  of  Soecial  Methods, 
treating-  of  the  selection  and  quality  of  the  best 
materials  furnished  by  the  separate  studies,  and 
points  out  the  particular  application  of  general 
principles  to  these  materials.  The  others  are  as 
follows: 

Special  Method  in  lateral k  it  and  History,  especially  the 
oral  treatment  of  stories  in  primary  and  intermediate 
grades.  The  history  course  for  grammar  grades  is  also 
discussed  and  outlined. 


4  Preface. 

Special  AJethod  in  Beading,  a  discussion  of  the  quality, 
culture-value,  and  method  of  using  the  best  classics  as 
reading  exercises.  A  full  list  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
six  choice  books,  arranged  according  to  grades,  is  given. 

Special  Method  in  Natural  Science.  A  historical  and 
critical  discussion  of  the  leading  ideas  involved  in  science 
teaching  in  common  schools  is  followed  by  illustrations  of 
the  treatment  of  science  topics,  b\T  lists  of  books  of  refer- 
ence in  science  studies  and  by  a  series  of  science  topics 
for  the  grades. 

Other  Special  Methods  in  Language,  Arith- 
metic, Music,  and  Drawing  may  be  issued  later. 

A  third  series  of  books  for  the  use  of  children 
as  well  as  teachers,  has  been  partly  worked  out, 
which  gives  in  full,  rounded  form  some  of  the 
choicest  materials  which  are  much  needed  to  en 
rich  the  somewhat  dry  text-book  lore  of  our 
schools.  Thus  far  the  series  is  worked  out  as  fol- 
lows: 

Classic  Stories  for  the  Little  Ones  by  Mrs.  Lida  B.  Mc- 
Murry.  They  are  used  for  oral  narrative  in  first  grade 
and  as  a  reading  book  in  second  grade. 

Robinson  Crusoe  for  Boys  and  Girls,  by  Mrs.  Lida  B  Mc- 
Murry  and  Mrs.  Mary  Hall  Husted,  for  oral  work  in  second 
grade  and  used  as  a  reading  book  in  third  grade. 

Tales  of  Troy,  by  Dr.  Charles  De  Garmo.  A  classic 
story  for  Boys  and  Girls  in  third  and  fourth  grades. 

Pioneer  History  Stories,  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  by  C. 
A.  McMurry.  for  fourth  and  fifth  grades. 

Pioneer  Explorers  on  Land  and  Sea,  by  C.  A.  McMurry, 
for  fifth  and  sixth  grades. 

A  Course  of  Study  for  the  eight  grades  of  the 
common  school  is  being  worked  out  in  a  separate 
volume  by  the  same  author.  For  price-list  see 
end  of  this  book.        Charles  A.  McMurry. 

Normal,   111. 
State  Normal  University.  August  1.  L895. 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL, 

liOS  AMOfiUES,  CAU. 

TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Home  Geography. 

Excursions,  ..... 

Examples  of  Excursions, 
Trip  to  a  Planing  Mill, 

Trip  to  the  Cupola  of  the  Normal  Building, 
Visit  to  a  Dwelling  House  in  Process  of  Construction, 

List  of  Possible  Excursions,     . 

The  Earth  as  a  Whole.         .... 


Page 
5 

.  if. 
17 

.  17 
17 
23 
25 
27 


CHAPTER  11. 

Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade, 

30 

The  Illinois  Rivei. 

32 

A  Coal  Mine,        ...... 

43 

The  Prairies,               ..... 

63 

The  Pineries  and  Lumbering.        .... 

73 

The  Upper  Mississippi, 

85 

Hard  Wcod  Forests  of  Indiana  and  the  Ohio  Valley, 

99 

Minneapolis,                 ..... 

111 

Lake  Superior,                   ..... 

.       121 

The  Surface  of  Tennessee,      .... 

133 

Trip  on  the  Lower  Mississippi,      .... 

.       138 

Cotton  and  the  Cotton  Plantations, 

157 

Irrigation  and  the  Big  Ditch  at  Denver, 

.       162 

Pike's  Peak  and  Vicinity,         .... 

173 

CHAPTER   III. 

Type  Studies  in  Geography. 

186 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Method  of  Class-Room  Work, 


197 


CHAPTER  I. 


Home  Geograp'hy. 

Home  geography  in  the  third  grade  has  to  do 
with  one  \s  native  town  and  neighborhood,  and  with 
the  varied  objects  of  study  they  supply. 

The  work  will  consist  in  the  main  of  excursions 
and  later  of  discussions  of  these  in  the  class, — 
excursions  into  the  home  neighborhood  to  secure 
a  close  and  accurate  view  of  many  objects  and 
occupations,  and  discussions  in  class  to  bring  out 
more  fully  their  meaning  and  relations. 

There  are  seven  principal  topics  that  may  be 
thus  experimentally  studied  in  home  geography: 

1.  Pood  products,  and  occupations  connected 
with  them. 

2.  Building  materials  and  related  trades.  *S/~ 

3.  Clothing  materials  used,  manufacture,  etc. 

4.  Local  commerce,  roads,  bridges,  railroads. 

5.  Local  surface  features.  Streams,  hills, 
woods,  etc. 

6.  Town  and  county  government.  Court-house, 
etc. 

7.  Climate  and  seasons.  Sun,  wind,  storms, 
heat. 

These  seven  topics  cover  a  broad  and  varied 
field  of  home  observation  and  make  up  the  phys- 


6  Special  Method. 

ical  environment  which  presses  in  from  all  sides 
through  the  senses.  It  may  not  be  necessary  to 
follow  this  outline  in  a  fixed  or  unchanging-  order, 
but  to  consider  the  season,  the  neighborhood,  the 
size  of  the  class,  and  the  local  opportunities  for 
excursions. 

Many  topics  studied  in  the  two  preceding 
grades  have  paved  the  way  for  Home  Geography. 
Robinson  Crusoe  has  suggested  many  local  inter- 
ests. The  science  lessons  have  already  led  the 
children  out  upon  short  excursions.  The  fairy 
tales  and  myths  have  given  vivid  pictures  of  many 
home  scenes.  In  the  third  grade  itself,  the  nat- 
ural science  lessons  and  home  geography  supply  a 
fitting  counterpoise  to  the  Greek  myths  and  the 
story  of  the  Seven  Little  Sisters.  In  the  latter 
(the  myths)  the  untamed  fancy  is  given  a  pretty 
loose  rein;  in  the  former,  common  realities  engage 
the  interest  and  attention.  And  yet  the  two  fields 
of  experience  are  linked  together  by  many  close 
bands. 

To  those,  therefore,  who  are  interested  in  the 
problem  of  concentration  of  studies,  the  whole 
body  of  knowledge  which  we  are  now  considering 
in  third  grade  shows  up  not  only  a  complex  of 
closely  related  studies,  but  also  a  close  adaptation 
to  the  interest  and  needs  of  children  of  this  age. 

We  will  enter  upon  a  brief  discussion  of  each 
of  the  seven  topics  previously  mentioned. 

1.  Food  products. — The  spring  season  is  a  fit- 


Home  Geography.  ' 

tin-- time  to  make  a  few  excursions  to  the  gardens, 
and  perhaps  still  further,  to  the  farms.  The  gar- 
deners are  busy  with  hot-beds,  seeds,  young- 
plants,  and  the  fresh-turned  soil.  At  this  season, 
also,  many  of  the  children  may  observe  the  work 
of  plowing,  transplanting,  and  cultivating  in  their 
own  gardens,  and  report  upon  the  same.  In  the 
fall,  also,  before  and.  after  the  first  frosts,  they 
may  again  turn  a  closer  attention  to  the  products 
of  the  gardens,  orchards,  and  fields.  In  the 
spring-time  it  may  be  well  to  select  one  or  two 
characteristic  vegetables  for  a  full  description  of 
the  planting  and  cultivation,  as  the  cabbage-seed, 
hot-bed.  transplanting,  hoeing,  storing,  or  cover- 
ing-in  for  winter.  In  the  same  way  one  or  two 
of  the  fruits  may  be  examined  and  discussed;  as, 
blackberries  and  grapes. 

A  catalogue  should  be  made  of  the  vegetables 
produced  within  a  radius  of  several  miles,  as 
tomatoes,  cabbages,  turnips,  onions,  potatoes,  to- 
bacco, etc.  Without  going  far  from  home,  but 
keeping  within  the  children's  range  of  observa- 
tion, we  may  form  a  long  and  varied  list,  and  find 
instructive  lessons,  which  will  serve  good  pur- 
poses in  future  studies.  With  town  children  it  is 
often  necessary  to  take  systematic  lessons  of  this 
kind,  else  they  will  be  ignorant  of  elementary 
ideas  in  agriculture,  commerce,  and  surface. 

The  list  of  food  products  about  our  home  may 
be  increased  by  a  list  of  the  fruits,  cultivated  and 


8  Special  Method. 

wild,  found  in  our  gardens,  orchards,  woods,  and 
tields.  We  need  to  get  definite  knowledge  of 
plants  which  yield  berries  and  other  small  fruit, 
as  well  as  kinds  of  apple  trees,  crabs,  plums, 
cherries,  haws,  etc. 

Besides  the  vegetables  and  fruits,  what  grains 
are  raised  on  the  farms  near  us?  Take  a  grain 
like  wheat  and  describe  the  succession  of  steps  in 
preparing  the  ground,  drilling,  harvesting,  thresh- 
ing1, milling,  etc.,  till  it  is  ready  for  final  use. 

The  farmer's  stock  is  an  important  part  of  his 
outfit,  as  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  or  swine.  The  re- 
lations of  grain-raising-  to  stock-raising,  and  the 
profits  of  the  farmer  in  combining  the  two,  are  of 
interest.  A  description  of  the  farmer's  work  in 
winter,  spring-,  summer,  and  fall,  may  give  some 
notion  of  the  variety  of  his  occupation.  The  tools, 
machines,  barns,  and  sheds  necessary  to  the  far- 
mer are  noticed.  It  is  worth  while  to  observe 
when  and  how  the  farmer  gets  his  grain  and  stock 
to  market.  The  need  of  wagons  roads,  bridges, 
and  markets  is  made  a] (parent. 

2.  The  second  main  topic,  building  materials, 
calls  for  an  investigation  of  the  things  used  in 
building-  our  houses.  Pine  and  hardwood,  the  va- 
rieties of  stone  used,  brick,  sand,  lime,  iron,  glass, 
tin,  lead,  slate,  paper,  and  paint.  Besides  observ- 
ing the  variety  of  uses  to  which  these  things  are 
put,  and  the  quality  of  the  materials,  it  is  well 
for  us  to  visit  a  sawmill,  a  carpenter  shop,  a  stone 


Home  Geography.  y 

quairy.  a  brick  yard,  a  planing  mill,  a  stone  cut- 
ter's, a  tinner's,  a  plumber's,  and  a  lime  kiln.  It 
is  especially  desirable  to  observe  the  work  upon 
a  house  in  process  of  construction.  A  connected 
description  of  each  of  these  places  should  be  given 
by  the  children  after  observation.  It  is  system- 
atic school  work.  A  few  excursions  to  these  places 
are  necessary,  children  and  teacher  together.  We 
observe,  also,  and  describe  the  tools  and  machines 
used  by  the  men  in  their  different  occupations  or 
trades. 

3.  The  third  topic,  clothing,  will  have  to  do 
with  wool  and  leather,  and  any  other  raw  materi- 
als, as  furs,  that  are  produced  in  our  neighborhood; 
also,  the  home  animals  that  yield  leather,  wool, 
and  fur,  also  the  tanneries,  shoe  shops,  woolen 
mills,  and  any  other  local  industry  bearing  on  this 
subject.  An  explanation  of  the  process  of  weav- 
ing by  which  the  fleeces  of  wool  are  converted 
into  woolen  cloth  or  blankets,  is  quite  practicable 
at  this  point.  The  same  as  to  tanning.  Secondly, 
we  would  discuss  cotton,  silk,  linen,  straw,  and 
rubber  goods  which  are  brought  from  a  distance, 
but  are  familiar  in  daily  use.  Our  purpose,  how- 
ever, is  not  to  discuss  these  topics  exhaustively 
at  this  point. 

Besides  the  occupations  already  mentioned, 
nearly  every  city  or  town  has  some  special  local 
industries  worthy  of  mention, such  as  wagon  works, 
paper  mills,   shoe  factory,  glass  work's,  machine 


10  .  Special  Method. 

shops,  foundry,  basket  factory,  etc.  It  is  well 
also,  to  call  to  mind  the  great  variety  of  occupations 
in  any  town  besides  those  'already  named,  as 
grocers,  bankers,  dry  goods  merchants,  doctors, 
engineers,  wholesale  dealers,  blacksmiths,  watch- 
makers, tailors,  etc. 

4.  Our  fourth  topic,  roads,  bridges,  and  local  com- 
merce, stands  in  close  relation  to  the  previously 
discussed  occupations.  The  chief  wagon  roads 
by  which  the  farmers,  gardeners,  dairymen,  quar- 
rymen,  and  wood  cutters  bring  their  produce  to 
market,  are  not  only  remembered  and  described 
by  the  children,  but  these  with  a  few  of  the  main 
streets  of  the  town  form  the  nucleus  for  a  map  of 
the  neighborhood.  Farmers  and  others  bring 
their  loads  into  town  for  sale,  and  with  the  profits 
thus  gained  buy  and  carry  back  with  them  such 
things  as  they  must  have  from  the  city.  In  this 
way  the  idea  of  a  town  as  a  trade  center  for  re- 
ceiving the  raw  products  of  the  surrounding  coun- 
try, and  in  turn  distributing  groceries,  clothing, 
tools,  and  many  other  things  to  the  farmers,  is 
made  clear.  The  chief  railroad  lines  to  the  neigh- 
boring villages  or  towns  should  find  a  place  on 
our  map  as  it  is  gradually  outlined.  These  furnish 
ideas  of  commerce  on  a  larger  scale,  and  between 
villages  and  a  larger  town.  If  our  town  lies  on  a 
navigable  river  or  canal,  a  knowledge  of  the  boats 
and  their  cargoes  is  of  importance. 

5.  The  fifth  topic  that  requires  a  detailed  treat 


Home  Geography.  11 

ment  is  local  surj ace  features.  Some  may  prefer  to 
put  this  subject  earlier  in  home  geography,  and  to 
this  there  is  no  objection  if  the  season  of  the  year 
is  favorable.  If  any  stream  flows  near  the  home, 
all  the  leading"  facts  connected  with  such  a  water- 
course should  be  observed  and  described,  =for  ex- 
ample the  current  itself  with  its  shallows,  rapids, 
and  deeper  places;  the  sand  bars,  bottom  lands, 
and  bluffs,  sloping  and  tree-covered  or  steep  and 
rocky;  the  old  channels  and  lagoons;  the  river  as 
seen  at  different  seasons,  floods,  high  and  low 
water,  uses  of  the  river  in  winter  and  summer,  the 
river  commerce,  if  it  is  navigable;  the  whole  river 
valley  with  its  irregular  course  as  seen  from  some 
commanding  point.  Then  there  are  the  smaller 
streams  and  valleys  opening  into  the  larger.  Up 
these  valleys  roads  are  laid  out  into  the  uplands. 
In  some  places  the  bottom  lands  are  rich  and  pro- 
ductive, in  others  sandy  or  flooded.  Erosion  or 
the  wearing  force  of  water  can  be  clearly  seen. 
Then  there  may  be  wooded  slopes,  brooks  and 
springs,  rocky  cliffs,  and  picturesque  outlooks,  the 
regular  layer  of  rocks,  and  the  caves  in  the  sand- 
stones. Even  along  smaller  streams  many  of 
the  characteristic  objects  of  a  water  course  may 
be  discussed.  There  are  many  other  surface  fea- 
tures which  we  may  observe  best  near  home.  The 
idea  of  the  forest  and  of  the  prairie  may  be  dis- 
tinctly formed,  meadow  and  cultivated  Meld  hill 
and  mountain,  valley  and  plain,  ridge  and  water- 


12  Special  Method. 

shed,  island  and  lake,  waterfall  and  mill  stream, 
difference  in  soil  and  consequent  differences  in 
products.  If  we  understood  how  much  all  future 
geography  study  depends  upon  this  use  of  home 
materials,  we  certainly  would  not  neglect  them. 

6.  The  sixth  topic  is  home  government.  The  town 
hall,  the  court  house,  and  the  officers  there  em- 
ployed, furnish  the  best  starting  point.  What 
duties  have  these  people  to  perform?  The  mayor, 
the  town  council,  the  county  judge,  and  county 
treasurer?  What  does  the  town  council  meet  to 
discuss  and  decide?  (water- works,  streets,  police, 
improvements,  taxes,  etc.)  It  is  not  the  abstract 
but  the  concrete  treatment  of  these  subjects  that 
children  need.  Beginning  with  the  objects  and 
j)ersons  we  see,  we  are  to  interest  them  in  these 
things  still  further. 

7.  Still  a  seventh  topic  of  home  geography  is 
found  in  the  observation  of  sun,  moon,  and  stars, 
and  seasons,  the  varying  length  of  day  and  night, 
and  the  changing  position  of  sun  and  moon.  We 
forget  that  these  grand  object  lessons,  some  of 
them  the  most  beautiful  and  imposing,  belong  di- 
rectly to  the  child's  home  and  are  a  part  of  it.  Such 
are  a  few  of  the  more  noticeable  constellations,  the 
clouds  and  storms,  cold,  heat,  and  rain  and  their 
effects,  the  sunsets.  These  ideas  lie  at  the  basis 
of  mathematical  geography  and  climate,  just  as 
some  of  the  other  topics  contain  the  concrete  ele- 
ments of  commerce,  surface,  and  government 


Home  Geography.  13 

A  brief  survey  of  the  topics  thus  far  suggested 
in  outline  will  show  that  the  children  by  personal 
inspection  and  experience  have  become  acquainted 
with  the  common  staple  necessities  and  leading  oc- 
cupations of  men,  as  farming,  mining,  manufactur- 
ing, trade,  and  with  many  lesser  ones;  that  the  idea 
of  commerce  and  a  trade  center  has  become  clear. 
Definite  ideas  also  have  been  formed  as  to  a  river, 
brook,  hill,  forest,  prairie,  field,  lowland,  valley, 
island,  slope,  watershed,  etc.  Clear  notions  of 
town  and  county  government  have  been  reached, 
while  climate,  the  seasons,  and  the  phenomena  of 
the  weather,  have  not  only  been  seen,  but  closely 
observed.  There  is  scarcely  a  topic  in  subsequent 
geographical  study  which  does  not  find  a  sure, 
concrete  footing  in  this  preliminary  work.  If 
there  is  any  value  in  careful,  personal  observation 
or  in  the  principle  of  going  from  the  known  to  the 
unknown,  it  is  fully  illustrated  in  the  successive 
grades  of  geography  study.  The  home  constitutes 
the  first  great  unit  in  this  branch  of  work. 

EXCURSIONS 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  a  successful  study  of 
the  home  neighborhood  can  be  carried  on  without 
excursions.  A  single  excursion  will  often  supply 
abundant  materials  for  instructive  discussion  for 
two  or  three  lessons.  Any  attempt  to  discuss  the 
same  topics,  without  the  basis  of  real  observal rem, 
which  the  trip  supplies,  will  soon  grow  formal 


14  Special  Method, 

and  unattractive.  There  is  much  variety  of  sur- 
prising- knowledge  to  be  gained  by  stepping  from 
the  school-room  directly  into  this  great  world  of 
realities.  The  ignorance  of  most  so-called  intel- 
ligent people  of  many  important  things  about 
home  is  matter  for  surprise.  It  is  an  extremely 
faulty  training  that  allows  us  to  pass  by  so  many 
of  these  things  without  any  desire  or  effort  to  un- 
derstand them. 

When  we  come  to  study  the  climate,  surface, 
industries,  products,  and  commerce  of  distant 
states  and  of  foreign  countries,  our  ability  to  un- 
derstand and  construct  correct  pictures  is  based 
upon  the  varied  ideas  of  similar  kind  that  we  have 
gathered  in  vivid  and  real  form  from  our  home 
neighborhood:  The  imagination  must  be  our 
chief  helper  in  constructing  geographical  pic- 
tures after  leaving  home  But  the  imagination 
cannot  construct  pictures  out  of  nothing"  any  more 
than  a  builder  can  construct  a  house  out  of  air. 
The  imagination  works  with  the  materials  of  ex- 
perience already  gathered.  It  is  not  expected 
that  we  should  gather  all  the  experimental  facts 
we  may  need,  in  third  grade  excursions.  We  can 
do  but  little  more  than  open  the  door  into  life  and 
its  varied  forms,  but  we  can  make  a  useful  begin- 
ning. 

Excursions  with  groups  of  school  children 
need  to  be  well  planned.  The  teacher  needs  to 
know  pretty  clearly  what   are  the   chief  objects 


Home  Geography.  15 

to  be  seen.  It  should  be  as  definitely  planned  as  a 
lesson.  If  possible  the  place  would  better  be 
visited  beforehand  by  the  teacher.  During-  the 
excursion  it  is  often  desirable  to  get  the  children 
together  and  direct  their  attention  to  certain  ob- 
jects or  processes,  then  take  them  aside  for  ques- 
tion and  inquiry. 

After  returning'  to  school  (the  next  day  per- 
haps), the  observation  gathered  upon  the  excur- 
sion should  be  related  in  class,  explanations 
made,  faulty  notions  corrected,  and  many  ideas 
brought  out  more  distinctly.  Such  a  discussion 
may  be  as  helpful  as  the  excursion  itself.  Many 
ideas  connected  with  the  business  or  place  may 
be  brought  home  to  their  minds,  which  were  not 
seen  or  noticed  at  the  time,  but  which  may  be 
very  important  for  the  whole  subject.  If  a  fac- 
tory is  visited  the  kinds  of  materials  used  and 
where  obtained  may  be  brought  up. 

Drawing  the  objects,  machines,  or  processes 
seen  is  an  excellent  means  of  making  more  vivid 
their  observations.  In  visiting  shops,  factories, 
buildings,  and  even  in  nature,  many  objects  will  be 
more  clearly  formed  in  mind  if  the  practice  of 
drawing  is  frequently  resorted  to — not  esthetic 
drawing,  but  mere  sketching,  diagramming,  and 
picturing  objects  in  a  crude  way.  It  may  be  well, 
also  in  the  drawing  lesson  proper,  to  take  some  of 
these  objects  for  more  accurate  reproduction.  But 
we  had  in  mind  not  the  drawing  lesson  proper,  but 


i'j  Special  Method. 

the  sketching-  for  help  in  understanding-  and  re 
membering  facts  and  objects. 

There  are  many  serious  difficulties  in  the  way  of 
a  general  introduction  of  excursions: 

1.  It  has  not  been  the  custom  to  make  such  ex- 
cursions for  purposes  of  instruction.  It  is  gen- 
erally supposed  that  children  will  pick  up  this 
kind  of  information  without  aid  from  teachers. 

2.  It  is  difficult  to  manage  large  classes  out  of 
doors.  It  is  hard  enough  to  keep  children  busy 
with  good  work  in  school.  Get  them  outdoor^ 
and  the  burden  is  doubled.  Children  are  more 
difficult  to  manage  in  the  open  air  than  in  a 
school-room.  They  take  liberties,  etc.  It  is  a  reaT^. 
burden,  oftentimes,  to  go  upon  an  excursion  with  a 
large  class  of  children.  Over  ag'ainst  this  diffi- 
culty there  is  one  considerable  advantage.  A 
teacher  who  wishes  to  know  and  understand  her 
children,  can  oftentimes  do  it  much  better  out- 
doors or  upon  a  journey  than  in  a  school-room. 
They  are  more  free  to  express  themselves.  More- 
over, when  the  right  spirit  prevails, children  and 
teacher  come  closer  together  and  arrive  at  a  bet- 
ter understanding  and  sympathy  with  each  other 
when  abroad.  Even  if  a  teacher  can't  get  away 
with  children  more  than  once  a  term,  it  will  be  a 
new  experience  that  will  add  much  to  the  interest 

j. 

of  school  life. 

3.  There  are  dangers  connected  with  visiting 
factories   and   workshops.     Great   precaution   in 


Home  Geography.  17 

this  respect  is  necessary.  A  single  unfortunate 
accident  would  outbalance  a  great  amount  of 
good.  A  teacher  should  be  very  watchful  to  pre- 
vent any  accidents.  In  mills  and  shops,  where 
machinery  is  used,  it  is  better  not  to  take  more 
than  a  dozen  or  fifteen  children  at  a  time,  and  to 
look  out  for  their  safety.  Even  in  excursions 
where  no  danger  is  present,  a  teacher  should  be 
watchful  and  careful  not  to  overexcite  or  over- 
strain the  children.  In  climbing  the  stairs  to  get 
to  the  cupola  of  a  large  school,  one  little  girl  be- 
came timid  and  nervous  and  was  taken  back  to 
the  lower  rooms  at  her  request. 

EXAMPLES    OF    EXCURSIONS. 
Trip  to  a  Planing  Mill  in  Bloomington. 

1.  Preparation  for  the  trip. 

2.  Trip  by  street  car. 

3.  Visit  to  a  planing  mill: 
'/.   The  planing  machine. 

b.  The  circular  saw  or  buzz  saw. 

c.  The  scroll  saw. 
<J.  The  band  saw. 

e.  The  turning-  lathe. 
/.   Machine  for  making  door  panels. 
g.   The  engine  room.     Bands.     Shaft. 
h.   General  view  of  store-house,  lumber  yard, 
etc. 
1.   Preparation. — Notice  was  given  to  the  chil- 
dren that  on  the  following  day  a  trip  would  be 


18  Special  Method. 

made  to  the  planing  mill,  and  they  should  get  per- 
mission of  their  parents  before  going. 

At  2:15  p.  m.  the  next  day,  seventeen  children 
out  of  a  class  of  nineteen,  set  out,  under  the  di- 
rection of  the  teacher.  Taking  a  street  car,  they 
soon  came  within  a  block  of  the  planing  mill. 

Before  entering  the  mill  the  children  were  fully 
cautioned  against  touching  the  machinery  or  get- 
ting too  close  to  wheels  or  bands.  The  teacher 
then  inquired  at  the  office  of  the  mill  to  secure 
permission  to  go  through  the  shop.  The  teacher 
then  glanced  into  the  mill  to  see  where  to  begin 
the  inspection  of  machines.  It  is  necessary  to 
keep  the  children  together,  to  call  their  attention 
to  the  special  points. 

a.  The  lirst  process  observed  was  the  planing 
of  rough  boards  at  the  planing  machine'.  The  ef- 
fect could  be  seen  as  the  board  came  through 
smooth  and  bright  on  one  side.  But  the  process 
could  not  be  seen,  as  the  knives  were  covered  up 
by  the  large  pipe  that  carried  away  the  chips  or 
shavings. 

b.  A  band  saw  was  next  examined  as  it  stood 
motionless.  The  children,  at  lirst,  fail  to  notice 
how  the  saw  circles  about  the  two  wheels.  The 
workman  then  applied  the  power  and  sawed  out 
a  number  of  brackets. 

c.  A  scroll  saw  was  also  observed,  both  at  rest 
and  in  motion.  The  up  and  down  movement  was 
seen  and  several  pieces  of  scroll  work  turned  out. 


Home  Geography.  19 

d.  Several  circular  or  buzz  saws  were  exam- 
ined in  action  as  they  sliced  up  inch  and  two-inch 
boards.  They  were  also  used  in  sawing'  up  pieces 
of  board  of  specified  length. 

e.  A  turning-  lathe  was  closely  observed  as  the 
workman  chiseled  off  a  post  for  a  porch.  The 
skill  and  beauty  of  this  work  were  surprising. 

/.  Three  machines  were  also  seen  in  motion  as 
they  mortised  and  turned  out  door  panels. 

Several  other  machines  were  not  in  operation 
and  therefore  were  not  more  closely  studied. 

(j.  We  all  passed  into  the  engine  room  to  ob- 
serve the  belt  which  transfers  the  power  from  the 
engine  to  the  main  shaft  that  runs  the  whole 
length  of  the  mill.  After  seeing  this  source  of 
power  we  passed  again  into  the  main  room  to 
notice  again  how  the  wheels  ranged  along  the 
main  shaft  are  supplied  with  belts  which  carry 
the  power  to  the  different  machines. 

//.  Passing  out  of  the  planing  mill,  we  stopped 
for  a  brief  review  of  the  chief  machines  and  oper- 
ations observed.  We  also  took  a  survey  of  the 
lumber  yard,  the  great  chimney,  and  the  store- 
house where  the  doors,  sash,  and  other  fine  ma- 
terials manufactured  in  the  mill  are  stored. 

In  passing-  along  the  street  we  came  to  a  long 
two-story  brick  livery  stable  in  the  process  of 
construction.  It  was  very  wide,  with  a  heavy 
framework  of  wooden  timbers  as  interior  support. 
This  building  gave  an  excellent  chance  to  observe 


20  Special  Method. 

two  things.  First,  two  rows  of  he<iv\  posts,  a 
foot  in  diameter,  supporting  two  heavy  beams  ex- 
tending through  the  length  of  the  building.  Upon 
these  beams  rested  the  foot-wTide  joists,  whose 
other  ends  were  built  into  the  brick  walls  at  the 
side.  A  better  opportunity  to  see  clearly  the 
interior  frame  of  a  large  building  could  hardly  be 
found.  Secondly,  a  single  horse  was  being  used, 
with  a  wheel  and  pulley,  to  lift  loads  of  brick  and 
mortar  to  the  builders  who  were  at  work  upon  the 
second  story.  The  upper  and  lower  wheel  could 
be  distinctly  seen,  also  the  movement  of  the  rope 
and  load.  This  is  not  only  a  good  typical  illustra- 
tion of  the  rope  and  pulley,  but  also  of  the  idea  of 
horse  power,  which  is  so  often  referred  to. 

When  one  is  out  upon  excursions  with  chil- 
dren it  is  well  to  take  advantage  of  such  inci- 
dental object  lessons  as  are  thus  offered.  We  might 
travel  many  miles  without  again  meeting  such  an 
opportunity  as  was  thus  thrown  in  our  way. 

In  the  next  geography  lesson  in  the  school- 
room the  main  objects  which  were  seen  upon  this 
excursion  were  thoroughly  discussed.  It  will  be 
found  that  many  things  which  were  supposed  to 
be  clear  to  the  boys  and  girls  were  not  so.  Many 
things,  also,  which  were  not  clear,  can  be  made  so 
to  the  children.  Sketches  and  diagrams  were 
made  both  by  teacher  and  pupils. 

The  whole  time  occupied  by  the  excursion, 
from  the  time  of  taking  the  street  car  till  we  got 


Home  Gioyraphy.  21 

off  at  home,  was  two  hours  and  twenty  minutes. 
If  it  had  been  desirable  the  time  could  have  been 
shortened  to  one  hour  and  forty  minutes. 

The  pine  boards  and  different  kinds  of  wood 
used  in  the  planing  mill  were  noticed,  and  attention 
called  to  the  railroads  which  bring-  these  materials 
from  a  distance.  The  relation  of  the  planing-  mill 
to  the  work  of  contractors  and  carpenters  in  house 
building  was  discussed  in  the  class. 

Trip  to  the  Cupola  of  the  Normal  Building. 

1.  View  to  the  west. 

2.  View  to  the  east. 

3.  View  to  the  south. 

4.  View  to  the  north. 

In  the  cupola  of  the  Normal  School  building, 
we  are  lifted  above  the  tops  of  the  highest  trees 
in  the  campus  and  can  look  abroad  over  a  wide 
area  of  what  was  once  a  prairie  country.  Look- 
ing first  to  the  west,  we  see  a  characteristic  farm- 
ing country  of  the  prairie  region.  There  are 
groves  of  trees  about  the  farm  houses,  and  fields 
of  different  kinds,  as  corn,  oats,  and  pasture.  To 
the  northwest  lies  a  prairie  with  but  few  trees, 
rolling  and  stretching  away  for  many  miles.  We 
can  trace  the  main  road  westward,  and  as  the 
eye  follows  it  to  the  western  horizon  we  see  aline 
of  black.  It  is  the  woods,  about  eight  miles  west 
of  Normal.  This  natural  forest  stretches  from  the 
south  along  the  western  horizon  for  many  mile«. 


22  Special  Method. 

Passing  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  cupola,  we 
look  down  upon  the  scattered  village  of  Normal, 
in  summer  time  so  embowered  in  trees  that  few 
houses  can  be  clearly  seen.  The  whole  town  has 
become  a  grove  of  maples  and  elms,  but  when  the 
leaves  are  fallen  we  can  see  the  chief  streets,  the 
two  railroads  and  the  station  at  the  junction,  the 
stores,  the  big  barns  and  wind  mills,  and  to  the 
northeast  a  mile  away,  the  Soldiers'  Orphans' 
Home.  Beyond  the  town  to  the  east,  the  road 
climbs  some  long  hills  as  it  rises  to  the  higher 
prairie  country  beyond.  To  the  east  in  this  direc- 
tion can  be  seen  the  nursery  and  the  stock-yards. 

Turning  to  the  south,  we  have  a  city  before  us. 
Two  miles  away  we  can  see  ten  or  a  dozen  church 
spires,  the  court  house,  the  Wesleyan,  the  smok- 
ing chimneys  of  the  big  car  shops  along  the  Chi- 
cago &  Alton  Railroad,  the  stove  foundry  to  the 
southeast  on  the  line  of  the  Illinois  Central.  The 
tall  water-tower  of  the  Bloomington  water- works 
is  the  highest  object  in  the  whole  landscape.  The 
line  of  the  Chicago  &  Alton,  and  also  of  the  Illi- 
nois Central,  can  be  distinctly  traced,  as  well  as 
the  street-car  line  between  Normal  and  Blooming- 
ton.  The  culverts  can  also  be  seen  where  the 
little  stream  that  drains  the  town  of  Normal 
passes  under  the  railroad. 

Turning  our  eyes  out  the  north  window,  we 
again  have  a  prairie  country,  sloping  upward. 
There  is  a  steady  slope  for  three  miles  or  more 


Home  Geography.  23 

from  the  north  to  Sugar  creek.  Beyond  the  creek 
toward  Bloomington  the  road  rises  somewhat  ab- 
ruptly, leaving  a  perceptible  valley  between  Nor- 
mal and  Bloomington. 

It  is  necessary  to  discuss  these  matters  closely 
with  the  children,  so  as  to  give  their  observations 
clearness  and  accuracy. 

When  we  consider  the  variety  of  typical  objects 
seen  in  such  a  view  of  the  country  as  this,  it 
proves  its  utility.  Prairie,  forest,  cultivated 
fields,  railroads,  factories  and  shops,  country 
roads,  bridges,  and  the  churches  and  buildings  of 
a  city,  furnish  important  elementary  pictures.  A 
second  lesson  in  class  should  give  the  children  a 
chance  for  a  full  description  and  discussion  of 
these  objects. 

With  this  survey  of  the  surrounding  country  as 
a  basis,  the  teacher  and  children  should  draw  a 
map  of  the  region  observed,  laying  out  the  campus 
as  a  center,  the  chief  wagon  roads  and  railroads, 
and  locating  upon  it  the  leading  points  of  interest 
already  discussed.  This  should  be  worked  out  on 
a  fixed  scale,  taking  some  familiar  half-mile  or 
mile  stretch  as  a  standard  of  measurement. 

Visit  to  a  Dwelling  House  in  Process  op  Con- 
struction. 

1.  The  cellar,  basement-walls. 

2.  The  framework. 

3.  The  sheeting,  weather-boarding",  flooring, 
shingling. 


24  Special  Method. 

4.  Window-frames,  doors,  and  casing's. 

5.  Plastering-,  slaking  lime. 

6.  Tinning,  spouting,  cistern. 

7.  Painting. 

8.  Chimneys,  heating,  ventilation. 

In  the  spring  or  fall  some  dwelling  is  usually 
in  process  of  construction  within  a  block  or  two 
of  the  school.  With  a  third  grade  class  it  is  ad- 
visable to  make  perhaps  three  excursions  of  half 
or  three  quarters  of  an  hour  each  to  such  a  house 
in  process  of  building. 

When  the  foundation  is  just  complete,  or  better 
still,  while  the  masons  are  at  work  upon  it,  no- 
tice the  depth  and  extent  of  the  cellar,  the  mate- 
rials and  tools  used,  windows,  and  door  frames. 
On  the  return  from  the  first  excursion  describe  the 
materials  and  work  seen.  Draw  also  the  ground 
plan  of  the  basement,  using  the  foot  or  yard  as  a 
standard  of  measurement. 

The  second  trip  may  be  made  when  the  frame- 
work is  toward  completion,  so  that  the  posts, 
joists,  beams,  and  rafters  may  be  seen  and  how 
they  are  mortised  together  and  rested  upon  the 
brick  foundation.  Notice  the  joists  of  the  second 
story;  also  the  rafters  of  the  roof  and  how  fas- 
tened at  the  ridge  and  sides.  The  manner  of  set- 
ting in  door-frames  and  window-casings  may  be 
seen. 

A  third  trip  may  be  made  to  observe  the  lath- 
ing, plastering,  and  interior  finish.     The  slaking 


Home  Geography.  25 

of  the  lime  and  mixing  with  hair  are  also  instruc- 
tive in  the  preparations  for  plastering.  Later  we 
may  observe  the  finer  work  of  interior  finish, 
painting,  graining",  papering,  etc. 

The  materials  and  tools  used  in  all  the  pro- 
cesses of  building  should  be  seen  and  understood. 
The  preparation  of  materials  at  the  carpenter 
shop,  planing  mill,  and  tin  shop  should  be  noticed. 
The  different  trades  involved  in  building,  as  of 
masons,  carpenters,  tinners,  plumbers,  painters, 
contractors,  and  mill  men,  should  be  appreciated, 
each  in  its  specialty. 

Each  excursion,  of  course,  will  be  worked  over 
in  the  school  room,  with  such  descriptions  and 
drawings  as  are  needed  to  bring  out  clearly  the 
facts  observed. 

List  of  Possible  Excursions. 

1.  House  building. — Materials,  trades,  tools. 

2.  Gardens. — In  spring  and  fall.  Tools,  vege- 
tables. 

8.  Nursery. — Fruit  and  shade  trees;  grafting. 

4.  Feed- mill. — Corn-sheller. 

5.  Blacksmith  and  wagon-maker. 

fi.    Tinner. — Soldering,  tools,  machines. 

7.  Grocery  Store. — Variety  of  home  and  foreign 
products. 

8.  SJioemaker. — Tools,  kinds  of  leather. 

(.t.  Cupola  of  school  house. — Slopes,  towns, 
fields,  etc. 


26  Special  Method, 

10.  Miller's  park. — Trees,  wild  animals,  creek. 

11.  Planing   mill. — Machines,    processes,    pro- 
ducts. 

12.  Court  House. — Records;  court-room. 

13.  Grain  elevator.— Belts,  pockets,  bins, chutes. 

14.  Cooper  shop. — Hoop  poles,  staves,  tools. 

15.  Wagon  shop. — Wood-work,  iron-work. 

16.  Foundry. — Molds,  filling-  the  molds. 

17.  Hot-house, — Construction,  heating-,  plants. 

18.  Water-works. — Engine,  pipes,  tower. 

19.  Car  pet- weaver. — Threads,  shuttle,  frame. 

20.  Printing  office. — Setting  type,  printing  ma- 
chine. 

21.  A  bakery. — Kneading,  the  oven. 

22.  A  stone  quarry. — Drilling,  blasting. 

23.  Bridges. — Wagon  bridge  and  railroad  bridge. 

24.  Soldiers'  monument, — Park;  history. 

25.  Machine  shops. — Engines,  cars. 

26.  Flour  mill. — Water  power  or  steam  power. 

27.  Brickyard. — Making  bricks;  the  kiln. 

28.  Canning  factory. — Tomatoes,  corn. 

29.  A  natural  forest. — Kinds  of  trees;  location. 

30.  Gas  works. — Coke,  furnaces,  tank. 

31.  A  dairy. — Churn;  cheese-making. 

32.  Furniture  Factory. — Materials,  machines. 

33.  China  store. — Kinds  of  ware. 

34.  Tannery. — Vats,  bark. 

35.  Woolen-mill, — Washing-  and  picking-,   card- 
ing, spinning-,  weaving-. 

36.  Saiv-mill. — Logs,  saws,  stacking-. 


Home  Geography.  27 

37.  A  windmill. 

38.  A  hardware  store. — Farming  machinery. 

39.  A  bluff  or  hill. — Watershed,  slopes. 

40.  Stream. — Banks,  floods,  erosion. 

More  than  half  of  the  above-named  excursions 
have  been  made  with  classes  by  the  author,  for 
school  purposes.  This  list  may  be  considerably 
enlarged.  In  almost  any  village  neighborhood  it 
would  not  be  difficult  to  find  twenty  places  adapted 
to  instructive  excursions.  But  even  if  but  a  half 
dozen  such  trips  can  be  made  during  the  year,  they 
will  prove  valuable  in  several  ways. 

The  Earth  as  a  Whole. 

Besides  the  seven  topics  of  the  home  environ- 
ment, there  should  be,  in  the  oral  work  of  third 
grade,  a  discussion  of  the  world  as  a  whole. 

Different  sized  globes  may  be  used  to  bring  out 
the  idea  of  the  earth  as  a  sphere.  The  continents 
and  oceans  may  be  located,  the  hot  regions  of  the 
equator  and  the  cold  polar  regions  described 
without  entering  into  mathematical  geography. 
North  America  should  be  examined  a  little  more 
in  detail,  and  our  own  home  state  located  in  its 
proper  relation  to  the  whole  country.  It  seems  to 
us  better  to  leave  out  of  third  grade  the  discus- 
sion of  the  earth's  motions,  the  causes  of  the 
seasons,  latitude  and  longitude,  and  the  general 
forms  of  contour  and  surface  given  even  in  our 
elementary  geographies.     We  would  also  omit  in 


28  Special  Method. 

fourth  grade  any  effort  at  a  careful  detailed  study 
of  a  continent  like  North  America,  with  drawing 
and  modeling  of  its  relief  forms,  etc. 

The  purpose  of  this  study  of  the  earth  as  a 
whole  is  to  get  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  earth  and 
of  our  own  position  and  relation  to  it,  so  that 
when  we  enter  upon  fourth  grade  study  we  are 
prepared  to  move  out  from  the  home  with  a  clear 
knowledge  of  our  bearings  and  a  simple  under- 
standing of  the  whole  earth  upon  which  we  live. 
It  seems  clear  that  only  a  few  lessons  need  be 
given  to  this  study  of  the  earth  as  a  whole,  and 
that  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  time  in  third 
grade  may  be  put  upon  the  study  of  home  objects. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  children's  hori- 
zon of  geographical  study  in  third  grade  should 
not  be  limited  to  the  immediate  home  neighbor- 
hood. Even  before  entering  school,  they  have 
heard  of  the  earth  as  a  big  ball.  The  Robinson 
Crusoe  story  in  second  grade  carries  them  across 
oceans  and  into  new  regions.  The  Seven  Little 
Sisters,  read  in  third  grade,  is  an  effort,  in  story 
form,  to  realize  some  of  the  characteristic  features 
of  the  whole  big  earth.  Finally,  geographical 
study  in  every  grade  must  be  both  analytic  and 
synthetic.  It  must  begin  at  home  and  work  out- 
wards gradually,  and  it  must  also  grasp  the  earth 
as  a  whole  and  begin  to  analyze  into  parts.  In 
our  fourth  grade  plan  we  shall  attempt  to  show 
that  the  fundamental  movement  should  be  from 


Home  Geography.  29 

the  home  outward;  but  it  will  be  necessary,  at 
intervals  throughout  the  course  of  progress,  to 
taKe  broad  surveys  of  the  earth  as  a  whole,  of 
continents,  oceans,  and  large  areas.  Such  broad 
surveys  are  necessary  to  keep  our  bearings  and  to 
prevent  a  blind  movement  into  unknown  region?. 


30  Special  Method. 


CHAPTER   II. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade. 

In  the  fourth  grade  we  desire  children  to  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  Mississippi  valley. 

Before  entering-  upon  the  full  discussion  of  this 
field  of  study  we  will  state  briefly  the  chief  con- 
trolling ideas  that  are  to  guide  us. 

1.  The  principal  movement  is  from  home  out- 
ward.—It  is  constructive  or  synthetic.    Beginning 
with  topics  in  the  home  state  we  advance  into  the 
surrounding  states  till  the  whole  great  valley  has 
been  compassed.     It  will  be  assumed  that  a  few 
lessons  have  been  previously  given  to  the  geogra- 
phy of  the  world  as  a  whole,   to  the  continents 
and    oceans,    and    more    particularly   to   North 
America  and  the  United  States.     It  is  expected 
also  that  throughout  the  study  of  the  Mississippi 
valley  in  fourth  grade  the  children  will  have  the 
map  of  North  America  and  of  the  United  States 
much  before  them,  and  will  survey  often  the  rela- 
tions that  bind  different  states,  cities,  etc.,  to  the 
whole  country  and  even  to  the  world.     But  the 
essential  burden  of  work  will  be  laid  upon  a  suc- 
cessive treatment  of  topics  specially  characteris- 
tic of  the  Mississippi  valley. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  '.\\ 

2.  A  full  treatment  of  twenty  important  typical 
subjects. — Instead  of  scattering  our  forces  over  a 
multitude  of  topics,  all  of  more  or  less  importance 
in  this  region,  our  plan  is  to  concentrate  atten- 
tion upon  a  very  few  chosen  topics,  thus  gaining 
time  for  an  adequate  and  instructive  treatment  of 
them.  Since  they  are  types,  the  meaning  attached 
to  them  will  be  found  wide  reaching.  Incidental 
to  them,  it  is  believed  that  the  important  facts  of 
geography  will  be  acquirea. 

3.  Causal  relations.— The  causal  relations  which 
bind  together  different  geographical  topics  will 
be  regarded  as  very  significant,  and  as  a  key  to  a 
right  understanding  and  interest. 

4.  Comparison  as  a  means  of  discrimination. — 
After  a  typical  subject  has  received  a  full  discus- 
sion, a  comparison  of  it  along  the  lines  of  simi- 
larity and  difference  wTill  show  the  extent  of  its 
application  and  bring  out  still  other  topics  by 
contrast.  Comparisons  are  the  most  fruitful  re- 
views, stimulating  thought  along  old  and  new 
lines. 

5.  The  oral  treatment  of  topics. — So  far  as  pos- 
sible an  oral  treatment  of  these  topics  is  desir- 
able. But  since  this  is  possible  only  to  a  limited 
extent  under  our  present  plans  of  teaching,  the 
material  furnished  in  books  should  be  graphic  and 
detailed,  and  time  should  be  given  to  discussion. 

0.  Relations  of  geography  to  the  other  studies  of 
the  year. — It  is  assumed  that  an  intimate  relation 


32  Special  Metnoa. 

is  kept  up  between  the  other  studies  of  the  third 
grade  and  geography.  The  history,  reading,  nat- 
ural science,  drawing,  language  lessons,  and  geog- 
raphy are  mutually  related  and  helpful  to  each 
other. 

These  six  points  will  be  discussed  more  fully 
after  sufficient  illustrative  materials  have  been 
gathered  to  show  their  importance. 

We  shall  now  introduce  four  topics  in  detail  to 
illustrate  the  ideas  just  outlined. 

The  Illinois  River. 

Through  the  central  portion  of  Illinois,  reaches 
the  crooked  valley  of  a  river  of  considerable  size. 
Its  head  waters  are  close  to  Lake  Michigan,  both 
on  the  south  and  on  the  west.  The  Indians  and 
white  men,  who  first  explored  this  region,  carried 
their  boats  across  the  portage  at  South  Bend  to 
the  Kankakee,  or  at  Chicago  to  the  Des  Plaines. 
It  is  five  hundred  miles  long,  and  for  two  hundred 
and  forty-five  miles,  or  nearly  half  that  distance, 
is  regularly  used  by  steamboats  for  commerce. 
At  some  seasons  it  is  now  possible  to  launch  a 
canoe  in  the  Des  Plaines,  not  far  from  Chicago, 
and  make  a  journey  by  water  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Illinois.  But  while  the  general  slope  of  the 
country  is  the  same  now  as  then,  while  the  same 
hills  and  bluffs  are  seen  along  the  streams,  every- 
thing else  appears  greatly  changed  since  the  days 
of  Marquette  and  La  Salle.      The  valley  of  the 


Geography  for  tfa   Fourth  Grade.  33 

Des  Plaines,  a  mile  wide  in  places,  is  bordered 
with  low  hills,  and  as  we  move  south  toward 
Joliet,  shows  some  curious  sights.  Along  the 
east  side  canal-boats  are  seen  gliding-  by,  loaded 
with  stone  or  grain,  coal  or  lumber.  Sometimes 
the  boats  are  drawn  by  mules,  and  again  a  little 
steam  engine  is  seen  puffing  in  one  end  of  the 
boat.  From  time  to  time  the  canal  widens,  and 
several  canal-boats  are  seen  lying  at  anchor  just 
above  a  lock,  through  which  the  boats  are  let 
down  to  a  lower  level,  if  they  are  passing  toward 
Joliet;  but  they  may  be  as  easily  raised  if  the 
boat  is  headed  for  Chicago.  The  lock  consists  of 
heavy  side  walls  of  masonry,  with  stout,  double 
doors  at  each  end.  The  boat  is  let  into  the  lock 
by  opening  the  doors  on  one  side.  If  it  is  headed 
down  the  canal  the  lower  gates  are  then  opened, 
or  partly  so,  till  the  water  glides  out,  leaving  the 
water  level  in  the  lock  the  same  as  in  the  canal 
below.  The  water  in  the  canal  flows  steadily 
from  Chicago  river  towards  Joliet,  carrying  much 
of  the  sewage  of  the  city  into  the  Illinois.  Chi- 
cago river  has  been  deepened  by  digging  and 
dredging.  As  the  upper  end  of  the  canal  is  still 
lower  than  the  level  of  the  river,  the  water  flows 
from  the  river  into  the  canal  and  thus  draws  a 
current  from  Lake  Michigan.  At  the  present  time 
we  may  see  where  the  work  of  excavating  a  much 
deeper  and  wider  canal  is  going  on,  which  is  to 
serve  both  as  a  canal  for  large  vessels,  and  as  a 


3-i  Special  Method. 

means  of  drainage  to  the  city.     The  machines  em- 
ployed and  the  great  heaps   of  earth  and  rock 
thrown  out  show  how  great  this  undertaking  is. 
In  many  places  this  new  drainage  canal  is  exca- 
vated through  solid  rock  thirty  feet  deep  and  160 
feet  wide  at  the  bottom.     The  whole  cost  of  this 
canal  is  estimated  at  twenty-one  millions  of  dol- 
lars.   We  soon  discover  that  the  old  canal,  as  well 
as  the  new  one,  is  dug  for  a  long  distance  in  the 
solid  rock,  which  here  lies  close  to  the  surface.    In 
fact,  for  fifteen  or  twenty  miles   north  of  Joliet, 
the  whole  eastern  side  of  the  valley  seems  to  be 
one  long  row  of  rock  quarries,  where  the  limestone 
strata,  lying  in  regular  layers,  are   quarried  and 
blasted  out,  sawed,  and  placed  upon  canal-boats 
or  railroad  cars  to  be  shipped  to  Chicago,  where 
vast  quantities  are  needed  for  the  foundations  of 
buildings.     The   Chicago  &  Alton  railroad   also 
runs  up  this  valley  with  the  low  hills  and  quar- 
ries on  one  side  and  the  canal  and  river  on  the 
other.     Just  before  reaching  Joliet.  our  attention 
is  attracted  by  a  large  stone  structure,  which  has 
the  appearance  of  a  grand  old  castle,  with  high 
walls  and  towers  on  the  corners.     It  is  the  state 
penitentiary,  where   hundreds   of  criminals     are 
kept,  and  the  rock  quarries  not  only  furnish  ma- 
terials for  its  construction  but  also  labor  to  many 
of  the  convicts  who  are  employed  in  the  quarries. 
At  Joliet  we  may  see  great  steel  works,  blast 
furnaces,  and  mills,  and  at  this  place  the  canal  is 


Geography  for  iht   Fourth.  Grade.  35 

carried  across  the  river,  by  means  of  a  dam,  which 
raises  the  water  to  the  level  of  the  canal,  so  as  to 
let  the  canal-boats  pass  across.  From  this  place 
the  canal  follows  the  north  bank  of  the  Des 
Plaines  and  of  the  Illinois  till  at  Peru  it  enters 
the  river.  About  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  south- 
west of  Joliet  our  boat  glides  from  the  Des  Plaines 
into  the  Illinois  River,  which  is  formed  by  the 
union  of  the  Kankakee  and  Des  Plaines. 

At  most  of  the  large  towns  upon  the  Kankakee 
and  upon  the  Des  Plaines  we  shall  find  dams  in 
the  river  which  are  used  to  supply  water  power 
to  mills  and  factories,  as  at  Wilmington,  Kanka- 
kee, and  Joliet.  The  Pox  River,  also,  which  joins 
the  Illinois  from  the  north,  has  several  large 
towns  like  Aurora  and  Elgin  which  have  good 
water  power.  These  smaller  streams,  therefore, 
while  they  are  not  large  enough  for  steamboats, 
are  still  of  much  service  both  for  drainage  and  for 
water  power. 

From  the  point  where  the  two  rivers  unite  to 
form  the  Illinois,  the  latter  becomes  an  interesting 
river.  The  bluffs  are  high  in  places  and  partly 
wooded.  The  valley  is  broad  and  the  river  winds  in 
many  curves  through  the  great  trough  which  has 
been  cut  down  into  the  level  prairies  by  the  floods 
of  water  that  have  swept  through  this  channel 
in  past  ages.  Geologists  tell  us  that  the  waters  of 
Lake  Michigan  once  found  their  outlet  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi through  the  great  trough  of  the  Qlinois 


36  Special  Method. 

valley.  The  old  channel  connecting  the  lake  with 
the  river  has  been  found  south  of  Chicago  but  was 
choked  up  and  filled  long  ago  by  gravel  and  drift. 
As  our  boat  glides  along  the  current  between 
the  wooded  bluffs  toward  La  Salle,  a  number  of 
interesting  spots  are  passed.  At  Ottawa  the  Fox 
River  comes  in  from  the  north,  and  over  it  the 
canal  is  carried  on  a  stone  bridge  or  aqueduct.  It 
looks  much  like  a  stone  railroad  bridge  with  great, 
heavy  stone  arches  to  support  the  weight  of  water 
passing  through  the  canal.  All  the  streams  that 
come  down  to  the  Illinois  from  the  north  pass  un- 
der the  canal  in  this  way.  The  canal  of  course 
follows  the  level  valley  between  the  river  and  the 
bluffs.  A  railroad  follows  the  same  valley  close 
to  the  canal  and  river.  This  broad  valley  is 
very  favorable  to  commerce  both  by  water  and 
by  rail.  Swift-moving  railroad  trains  and  slow- 
moving  canal-boats  add  much  to  the  life  of  this 
region.  Near  Utica,  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river  is  the  wide  meadow  where  the  great  village 
of  the  Illinois  Indians  once  stood,  and  near  which 
Tonty  tried  to  prevent  a  battle  between  the  Iro- 
quois and  Illinois  tribes.  On  the  south  side  is  the 
steep  front  of  Starved  Rock,  on  the  top  of  which 
Tonty  built  Fort  St.  Louis.  Afterward,  accord- 
ing to  tradition,  the  last  of  the  Illinois  were 
starved  to  death  on  the  summit  of  this  bluff.  At 
its  base  flows  the  Illinois  river,  at  the  rear  is  a 
steer>  ascent,  and  the  broad  valley,  seen  from  its 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  GrctcU .  37 

top,  with  the  winding"  current  of  the  Illinois,  is 
very  picturesque.  On  the  north  side  of  the  river 
is  Buffalo  Rock,  which  is  also  famous  in  early- 
history. 

A  little  west  of  Starved  Rock  the  Vermilion 
River  enters  the  Illinois  valley  from  the  south, 
itself  coming'  through  a  deep,  narrow  valley,  along 
which  is  found  some  picturesque  scenery.  Deer 
Park,  which  opens  into  this  stream,  is  a  narrow, 
rocky  canon,  with  steep  sides  sixty  feet  high, 
which  are  thick  with  woods,  so  that  it  is  cool  and 
shady  even  on  hot  summer  days.  At  the  upper 
end  of  the  narrow,  winding  canon,  is  a  semicircle 
of  steep  rock  over  which  a  little  stream  tumbles 
and  then  flows  down  through  the  canon.  Deer 
Park  is  only  a  few  miles  from  Starved  Rock,  and 
this  whole  region  is  picturesque  and  interesting 
to  the  tourist. 

Just  before  reaching  LaSalle,  our  boat  passes 
under  the  high  bridge  of  the  Illinois  Central  rail- 
road. At  LaSalle  are  great  zinc  works,  which  can 
be  seen  from  the  river.  At  Peru,  a  few  miles  to 
the  west,  the  Illinois  and  Michigan  canal  enters 
the  river,  after  a  journey  of  ninety-eight  miles 
from  Chicago.  From  this  point  on  the  river  is 
deep  enough  for  canal-boats  and  small  steamers. 

We  may  now  abandon  our  canoe  and  take  up 
comfortable  quarters  on  a  steamboat  for  the  rest 
of  the  journey.  Above  this  tin*  river  is  too  shal- 
low for  steamers  in  summer  time.     In  fact,  a  dam 


38  Special  Method. 

in  the  river  at  Henry,  twenty  miles  below  Peru, 
raises  the  water  six  or  eight  feet  and  deepens  the 
current  twent/y  miles  up-stream  as  far  as  Peru. 
On  the  west  side  of  the  dam  at  Henry  is  a  lock, 
which  enables  boats  to  pass  by  the  dam.  The 
dam  and  lock  at  Henry,  by  means  of  which  the 
water  is  deepened  above  and  boats  allowed  to  pass 
through,  belong  to  wThat  is  called  the  system  of 
slack- water  na viga t ion. 

Between  Peru  and  Henry,  the  Illinois  River 
makes  a  grand  sweep  to  the  south.  The  valley  is 
very  broad,  two  or  three  miles  in  places,  and  the 
bluffs  sometimes  two  hundred  feet  high.  The  road 
leading  from  the  prairies  to  the  valley  below  fol- 
lows some  ravine,  and  must  descend  a  long,  steep 
hill  before  reaching  the  bottom-lands.  The  bot- 
tom-lands are  often  low  and  marshy,  sometimes 
covered  with  swamp -growing  trees.  Some  of  the 
bottom-lands  are  above  the  water-level  and  make 
rich  cornfields.  The  soil  in  many  of  these  bottoms 
is  very  deep  and  rich  (sometimes  fifty  feet),  and 
very  heavy  crops  are  raised.  But  in  wet  seasons 
the  crop  may  be  wholly  destroyed  by  the  floods. 
Among  the  bottom-lands  are  found  shallow  bayous 
and  lakes,  which  are  ancient  channels  of  the  river, 
now  cut  off  and  partly  filled  up.  In  the  season  of 
duck-hunting,  thousands  of  wild  duck  feed  among 
the  swamps  and  bayous,  and  the  sound  of  the 
sportsman's  gun  may  be  heard  at  all  hours  of  the 
day,  echoing  between  distant  bluffs  of  the  valley. 


r9 


Geography  for  ifie  Fourth  Grade.  39 

Below  Henry  the  river  winds  through  a  broad 
valley  with  lower  and  more  sloping-  bluffs.  Alter 
passing  a  number  of  wooded  islands  below  Lacon 
the  river  widens  into  a  long  shallow  lake  which 
reaches  to  Peoria.  Peoria,  which  is  near  the  site 
of  the  old  Indian  village,  lies  upon  a  sloping 
plain  which  rises  gradually  a  mile  back  from  the 
river  to  the  foot  of  high  wooded  bluffs.  The  big  • 
breweries,  distilleries,  and  glucose  factories,  for 
which  Peoria  is  noted,  lie  mostly  near  the  bank 
of  the  river.  The  best  business  streets  are  a  few 
blocks  back  from  the  river  and  higher  up  on  the 
slope,  and  many  of  the  finer  residences  have  been 
lately  built  along  the  upper  edge  of  the  bluffs 
and  overlooking  the  valley  and  lake  for  miles. 

Just  below  Peoria  an  important  railroad  bridge 
spans  the  river,  and  at  several  other  towns  below 
there  are  railroad  bridges,  as  at  Pekin,  Havana, 
and  two  or  three  smaller  {daces.  Below  Pekin 
the  railroads  do  not  follow  the  valley  but  cross  it 
The  lower  part  of  the  river  is  chiefly  important 
as  a  navigable  stream  connecting  the  Mississippi 
with  the  canal  and  Lake  Michigan.  Steamboats 
regularly  pass  from  St.  Louis  to  Peoria  and  Peru, 
and  the  towns  on  the  river  furnish  a  good  market 
for  grain  which  is  sent  to  Peoria  and  Chicago. 
The  Spoon  river  from  the  west,  and  the  Sanga- 
mon from  the  east  are  the  chief  branches  of  the 
lower  Illinois,  draining  rich  prairie  lands  which 
are  among  the  best  settled  portions  of  the  state. 


40  Special  Method. 

Springfield,  near  the  Sangamon,  is  noted  as  the 
home  of  Lincoln,  as  the  capital  of  the  state,  and 
as  a  beautiful  city. 

The  lower  valley  of  the  Illinois  River  is  pretty 
heavily  timbered.  For  thirty  miles  before  joining 
the  Mississippi  it  flows  parallel  to  that  stream, 
separated  only  by  a  narrow  ridge  a  few  miles 
across.  About  fourteen  miles  above  Alton  it  joins 
the  great  current  of  the  Mississippi,  here  about 
a  mile  wide,  and  rolls  on  a  few  miles  further  to 
mingle  with  the  yellow  waters  of  the  Missouri. 
The  Illinois  river  is  an  important  connecting 
link  between  the  waters  of  Lake  Michigan  and 
the  Mississippi  River.  The  canal  makes  this  con- 
nection complete,  and  the  low,  narrow  water-shed 
between  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Des  Plaines 
renders  this  artificial  water-way  easy.  When  a 
ship -canal  is  finished  between  Chicago  and  the 
Mississippi,  large  vessels  may  be  able  to  sail  up 
the  St.  Lawrence  and  down  the  Mississippi  mak- 
ing Chicago  a  harbor  that  can  be  approached 
from  the  sea  on  either  side.  In  winter  time  the 
river  and  canal  are  frozen  up  and  navigation  is 
stopped  for  some  four  or  five  months. 

The  Illinois  is  useful  not  only  for  drainage,  to 
remove  surplus  waters,  for  water  power  in  mills 
and  factories,  for  commerce,  and  as  a  means  of 
connection  between  larger  waters,  but  also  for 
fishing  which  is  carried  on  to  quite  an  extent  near 
the  river  towns. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  41 

The  great  irregular  valley  of  the  Mississippi 
is  a  still  wider  trough  toward  which  the  Illinois 
and  other  streams  of  our  state  send  their  winding 
waters.  A  closer  study  of  the  rivers  of  Illinois  will 
show  that  they  all  move  in  the  same  general  direc- 
tion. The  Rock,  the  Illinois,  the  Kankakee,  the 
Big  Muddy,  and  the  Wabash  all  move  in  the  same 
general  course  and  all  mingle  their  waters  finally 
as  they  pass  Cairo.  Each  of  the  smaller  rivers 
has  its  secondary  slopes,  but  the  general  slope  of 
the  whole  state,  with  slight  exception  at  Chicago, 
is  toward  the  southwest.  (It  is  certainly  advis- 
able at  this  point  to  make  a  sand  map  of  Illinois, 
laying  out  the  valleys,  slopes,  cities,  canal,  etc. 
If  there  is  loose  soil  in  the  play  ground,  it  may  be 
made  on  a  large  scale  and  to  good  advantage  in 
the  open  air.  It  is  well  also  for  the  children  to 
draw  upon  the  blackboard  quickly  an  outline 
map  of  Illinois  aiming  chiefly  at  correct  propor- 
tions in  the  parts.) 

If  we  now  turn  to  a  large  physical  wall  map  of 
the  United  States,  it  will  sujiply  a  useful  lesson 
at  map  interpretation  to  examine  the  neighboring 
states,  such  as  Wisconsin,  Iowa,  Missouri,  In- 
diana, and  Minnesota,  to  hunt  up  the  principal 
rivers,  determine  their  slopes,  compare  them  in 
size  with  the  Illinois  river,  and  fix  their  names, 
together  with  those  of  the  states  through  which 
they  flow.  Such  an  examination  will  reveal  sev- 
eral states  that  have  a  river  of  the  same  name, 


42  Special  Method. 

dividing"  it  into  nearly  equal  portions,  as  Wiscon- 
sin, Missouri,  and  Minnesota.  Then  the  Wabash- 
in  Indiana,  the  Des  Moines  in  Iowa,  the  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Arkansas,  bear  a  relation  to  their 
respective  states  similar  to  that  in  Illinois.  This 
examination  and  comparison  of  rivers  will  lead 
to  a  perception  of  the  chief  slopes  of  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  on  a  large  scale.  In  fact,  we  can  af- 
ford to  carry  this  comparison  a  little  farther.  The 
Illinois  and  Michigan  canal,  connecting  Lake  Mich- 
igan with  the  Illinois  River,  is  similar  to  a  canal 
at  the  portage  of  the  Wisconsin  and  Fox.  In  In- 
diana, the  Wabash  and  Maumee;  in  Ohio,  the  Mi- 
ami, Sciota,  and  Muskingum  are  all  connected 
with  Lake  Erie  by  canal.  These  are  the  artificial 
water  connections  between  the  Mississippi  and 
the  St.  Lawrence  system.  Like  the  Illinois,  the 
lower  waters  of  streams  such  as  the  Wisconsin, 
Des  Moines,  Tennessee,  and  Sciota,  are  navigable, 
while  their  upper  valleys  are  the  favored  courses  of 
canals  and  useful  for  water  power  and  manufactur- 
ing. The  fullness  and  detail  with  which  the  upper 
and  lower  Illinois  have  been  described,  is  justified 
because  the  canal  with  its  locks,  the  dams  and 
water  wheels,  the  cities,  bridges,  and  steamboats, 
the  bluffs,  bayous,  and  bottom  lands  of  the  one  in- 
terpret those  of  all  the  others.  In  several  ways  the 
Illinois  River  becomes  a  standard  of  comparison 
by  which  we  measure  other  streams,  and  more 
quickly   understand   their   size   and  importance, 


Geography  for  th   Fourtli  Grade.  43 

In  our  later  study  of  rivers  in  other  parts  of  the 
United  States,  and  of  the  world,  we  shall  have 
frequent  occasion  to  revert  to  our  home  stream  as 
a  representative  and  standard  to  illustrate  slack- 
water  navigation,  bluff  scenery,  water  power, 
steamboat  traffic  and  drainage,  slope,  and  the 
erosive  power  of  waters.  In  comparing"  the  rivers 
of  the  surrounding  states  with  the  Illinois,  we 
definitely  locate  these  states  and  the  rivers  that 
drain  them,  fixing  the  names  by  such  drill  exer- 
cises as  may  be  necessary.  The  power  to  inter- 
pret the  surface  features  as  indicated  by  a  map 
should  certainly  be  gained  in  this  exercise. 

A  Coal  Mine. 

In  many  parts  of  Illinois  the  coal  beds  lie  un- 
der our  feet.  Many  towns  and  cities  in  the  cen- 
tral and  southern  part  of  the  state  have  good  coal 
mines.  So  great  is  the  value  of  the  Illinois  coal 
fields  that  the  black  soil  of  the  prairies  is  scarcely 
a  better  source  of  wealth  than  the  coal  beds  that 
lie  from  fifty  to  five  hundred  feet  below  the  sur- 
face. About  thirty-five  thousand  square  miles, 
nearly  two-thirds  of  our  state,  are  underlaid  by 
these  rich  coal  deposits.  The  borings  for  coal  in 
different  counties  reveal  that  sixteen  distinct 
layers  of  coal  have  been  found,  ranging  from  one 
to  nine  feet  in  thickness.  Sometimes  three  or 
four  workable  coal  veins  have  been  opened  by  a 
single  boring,  as  at  Bloomington  and  Springfield. 


34  Special  Method 

The  coal  beds  lie  in  layers  or  strata.  Like  the 
rock  strata  of  sandstone  and  limestone,  from 
which  our  building-  stone  comes,  the  coal  seams 
lie  in  horizontal  layers  between  the  layers  of  rock 
and  sand.  When  first  formed  upon  the  surface, 
they  were  not  coal  beds  but  consisted  of  a  thick 
matting'  of  reeds,  ferns,  and  tree  trunks.  As  the 
land  sunk,  water  flowed  over  these  beds,  collect- 
ing thick  layers  of  mud,  sand,  and  gravel  over 
them  which  afterwards  changed  into  rock.  The 
layer  of  plants  and  trees  changed  into  coal. 

The  three  most  common  ways  of  entering  a 
coal  bed  are  by  drift,  slope,  and  shaft.  The  drift  is 
begun  in  a  hill-side  where  the  coal  seam  crops  out. 
After  removing  the  dirt  and  rubbish,  a  passage  is 
worked  into  the  coal.  From  fifteen  to  eighteen 
feet  is  the  ordinary  width,  to  accommodate  two 
tracks,  and  ten  feet  will  readily  accommodate  one. 
Seven  feet  is  an  average  height,  but  it  may  be 
higher.  The  floor  of  the  drift  must  have  a  con- 
stant upward  grade  as  it  progresses  inward,  in 
order  that  the  water  may  run  out,  and  that 
loaded  cars  may  be  hauled  more  easily.  The 
mouth  of  the  drift  must  be  above  the  adjacent  val- 
ley or  stream,  so  that  the  water  may  be  carried 
away.  It  is  usually  necessary  to  support  the  roof 
and  sides  of  the  drift  by  timbers,  joined  together 
in  the  form  of  a  bent  and  placed  more  or  less  close 
to  each  other.  The  drift  is  the  simplest  and  most 
economical  way  of  making  an  entrance  to  a  mine, 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  45 

as  there  is  no  expense  for  sinking  the  shaft,  cut- 
ting through  the  rock,  pumping-  out  the  water,  or 
the  hoisting-  of  the  coal.  But  most  of  the  coal-beds 
lie  below  the  level  of  the  streams  and  valleys. 

If  there  is  an  outcrop  of  coal  on  the  tract  to  be 
mined,  and  the  dip  of  the  seam  (downward  into 
the  hill)  is  more  than  twenty  degrees,  it  is  usually 
advisable  to  enter  the  mine  by  means  of  a  slope. 
This  is  a  passage  which,  beginning  at  the  outcrop, 
follows  the  coal-seam  down  until  the  necessary 
depth  is  reached.  It  is  driven  in  the  coal.  The 
slope  in  some  of  the  coal  fields  is  driven  down 
about  300  feet,  at  which  point  gangways  are 
driven  out  to  right  and  left,  and  chambers  driven 
from  them  back  toward  the  surface. 

In  early  mining"  operations,  the  drift  and  the 
slope  were  much  used  in  entering  the  coal-fields, 
as  they  were  easier  and  cheaper,  but  most  of  the 
beds  capable  of  being-  entered  in  this  way  have 
been  mined  out,  and  the  coal-seam  is  now  usually 
reached  by  a  shaft.     (Mines  of  Penn.) 

The  shaft  is  like  a  great  well  sunk  straight 
into  the  earth.  Before  beginning  a  shaft,  it  is 
desirable  to  locate  the  coal-bed  and  its  slant  as 
nearly  as  possible.  This  is  done  by  studying-  the 
rocks  of  the  surrounding  country  and  by  boring. 
Since  a  shaft  costs  frequently  from  $25,000  to 
$100,000,  it  is  desirable  to  make  no  mistakes  in  its 
location. 

In  beginning  to  open  the    shaft,  an   angular 


■MS  Special  Method. 

space  is  started  out  from  four  to  eight  feet  widei 
and  longer  than  the  proposed  dimensions  of  the 
shaft,  and  the  soil  and  loose  stones  are  thrown 
out  from  large  areas  until  the  bed-rock  is  reached. 

From  this  rock  a  cribbing  of  solid  timber, 
twelve  inches  square,  is  built  up  to  the  surface, 
on  the  four  sides  of  the  opening,  to  prevent  the 
earth  from  caving  in.  Sometimes  heavy  walls  of 
masonry  instead  of  the  timber  cribbing  are  built. 
When  this  has  been  accomplished,  sinking 
through  the  rocks  goes  on  by  the  ordinary  pro- 
cess of  blasting,  plumb-lines  being  held  at  the 
corners  of  the  shaft  to  keep  the  opening  vertical. 

The  horizontal  dimensions  of  the  modern  shaft 
average  about  twelve  feet  in  width  by  thirty  in 
length.  The  space  is  divided  crosswise  down  the 
entire  depth  of  the  shaft,  into  compartments,  of 
which  there  are  usually  four.  The  first  of  the 
compartments  is  the  pumpway,  space  devoted  to 
pipes,  pump-rods,  and  other  appliances  connect- 
ing with  the  pumping  system.  To  this,  six  feet 
in  breadth  are  allowed.  Then  comes  in  succession 
the  two  carriage  ways,  each  of  which  may  be 
seven  feet  wide,  and  finally  the  air  passage,  by 
which  the  foul  air  is  exhausted  from  the  mine,  and 
to  which  ten  feet  are  appropriated.  The  air  pass- 
age is  boarded  up  and  made  as  nearly  as  possible 
air-tight.  The  carriage  in  each  of  the  carriage 
passages  is  raised  and  lowered  by  a  wire  cable, 
fastened  to  1he  middle  of  the  cross-beam  above- 


Gfeography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  47 

The  cars  of  coal,  as  well  as  the  men,  are  raised 
and  lowered  by  means  of  these  carriages,  and 
great  care  for  safety  is  taken  in  their  construction 
and  use. 

The  safety  carriages  are  now  generally  in  use 
in  at  least  one  of  the  hoisting  passages.  It  is 
built  of  wrought  iron  instead  of  wood;  it  has  a 
bonnet  or  roof  to  protect  against  falling  bodies, 
and  it  has  safety  clutches  or  dogs  to  stop  the  car- 
riage and  hold  it  in  place  in  case  of  accident  by 
breakage  of  the  rope  or  machinery. 

It  costs  usually  from  $300  to  $500  a  yard  to  sink 
a  shaft  with  four  such  compartments,  and  some- 
times a  shaft  that  has  been  begun  at  a  great  ex- 
pense may  have  to  be  abandoned  because  of  the 
great  rush  of  water  or  of  a  bed  of  quicksand. 

It  is  usually  intended  to  sink  the  shaft  at  such 
a  point  that  its  foot  will  strike  the  lowest  part  of 
the  coal  bed,  which  usually  slopes.  In  working 
out  into  the  coal  area  from  the  foot  of  the  shaft, 
the  slope  will  always  be  upward  and  the  water 
will  flow  toward  the  foot  of  the  shaft  whence  it 
can  be  pumped  out.  Usually  a  sort  of  water 
basin  is  excavated  on  the  lower  side  near  the  foot 
of  the  shaft.  In  this  cistern  the  water  collects 
from  all  parts  of  the  mine  and  an  engine  above 
pumy>s  it  through  the  pipes  of  the  water  passage 
and  discharges  it  above  ground.  Sometimes  it 
takes  a  powerful  engine  constantly  pumping  to 
keep  down  the  level  of  the  water  in  the  mine. 


48  Special  Method. 

Prom  the  first  it  is  necessary  to  secure  a  good 
circulation  of  air  through  the  passages  and  cham- 
bers so  that  foul  air  and  gases  produced  in  the 
mine  can  be  constantly  removed.  Prom  the  foot 
of  the  shaft,  on  one  side,  a  passage  is  cut  through 
the  coal  from  ten  to  fourteen  feet  wide.  This  is 
one  of  the  main  gangways.  After  reaching  a 
short  distance,  a  narrow  passage,  six  feet  wide, 
is  cut  at  right  angles  to  the  gangway  to  a  dis- 
tance of  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet.  At  the  ex- 
tremity of  this  cross  heading  a  passage  is  run 
parallel  to  the  gangway.  After  running  the 
gangway  and  this  last  air-passage  parallel  for  a 
distance  of  sixty  or  more  feet,  they  are  connected 
again  by  a  cross  heading.  It  is  evident  now  that 
we  have  a  square  enclosed  by  tunnels,  namely  by 
the  gangway,  the  air  passage,  and  the  two  cross 
headings.  It  is  possible,  therefore,  to  cause  the 
fresh  air  to  pass  round  this  square  and  to  return, 
collecting  the  gases  and  other  impurities  on  the 
way  through  the  passage  and  driving  them  back 
on  its  return  to  the  foot  of  the  shaft  where  they 
are  all  carried  up  the  air-passage  to  the  open  day. 
By  means  of  a  wooden  partition  in  the  gangway, 
and  an  extra  air-passage,  the  foul  air  on  its  return 
is  kept  separate  from  the  fresh  air  that  enters  the 
mine  from  the  main  shaft.  This  current  of  air  is 
kept  in  motion  by  a  fan  driven  by  a  steam  engine. 
It  stands  not  far  from  the  foot  of  the  shaft  and 
sends  the    foul  air  in    a  strong    current  up    the 


Geography  for  (he  Fourth  Grade.  49 

shaft.  The  fresh  air  passes  down  the  carriage  or 
elevator  passage  to  make  good  this  deficiency. 
In  this  way  a  constant  circulation  is  kept  up  in 
the  mine.  This  constant  stream  of  fresh  air  is 
necessary  to  the  miners  because  the  fire-damp  and 
other  foul  and  explosive  gases  collect  rapidly  in 
the  mine,  and  would  soon  make  it  not  only  dan- 
gerous but  impossible  to  work  longer. 

As  soon  as  proper  arrangements  have  been 
made  for  the  circulation  of  air  and  for  pumping 
out  the  water  that  constantly  accumulates,  the 
regular  work  of  mining  the  coal  can  be  begun. 
The  coal  between  the  main  gangway  and  the  air- 
passage  is  left  standing  as  a  support  to  the  roof 
of  the  mine.  The  miners  begin  now  to  open  a  way 
from  the  air  passage  outward,  and  after  a  narrow 
opening,  wide  enough  for  a  coal  car,  has  been  cut 
to  a  distance  of  fifteen  feet,  the  miner  begins  to 
mine  away  the  coal  and  form  a  chamber  from 
twenty-four  to  thirty-six  feet  wide;  a  track  is  also 
laid  from  the  chamber  to  the  foot  of  the  shaft. 
The  coal  is  removed  by  the  car  on  the  track  and 
carried  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft  to  be  raised 
above  ground.  A  second  chamber  parallel  to  the 
first  is  then  dug,  connecting  in  the  same  manner 
with  the  air-passage.  A  partition  of  coal  from 
fourteen  to  twenty  feet  thick  separates  the  two 
chambers.  In  order  to  secure  a  circulation  of  air 
through  these  chambers  a  passage  is  cut  through 
this  partition  and  the  air  passage  outside  of  the 


50  Special  Method. 

chambers  is  closed  up  by  a  wooden  partition  so 
that  the  air  in  its  circuit  passes  through  the 
chambers.  The  chambers  are  now  extended  deeper 
into  the  vein  of  coal;  at  every  twenty-four  or 
thirty-six  feet  a  new  air  passage  is  opened  up, 
while  the  old  one  is  closed,  thus  causing  the  air  to 
circulate  close  up  to  where  the  men  are  working. 
Several  of  these  chambers  are  carried  up  parallel 
to  each  other  into  the  vein  of  coal  at  the  same 
time  and  as  the  coal  is  dug  away  it  is  removed  in 
cars  to  the  mouth  of  the  shaft,  while  the  air  is 
kept  fresh  in  them  all. 

The  number  of  persons  employed  in  a  single 
mine  varies  from  a  dozen  in  the  newest  and 
smaller  mines  to  seven  or  eight  hundred  in  the 
largest  and  busiest.  There  are  generally  four 
workmen,  two  miners,  and  two  laborers  employed 
in  each  chamber.  The  miners  are  employed  by 
the  coal  company  and  the  laborers  are  employed 
by  the  miners.  The  miners  belong  to  the  aristoc- 
racy of  the  underground  workers.  After  working 
a  few  feet  into  the  coal,  props  usualty  become  nec- 
essary to  prevent  the  roof  from  falling.  The  hard- 
wood props  used  are  nine  inches  in  diameter.  They 
are  furnished  in  large  quantities  by  the  mining 
companies.  The  miner  as  he  advances  into  the 
coal  sets  up  these  props  where  there  seems  danger 
of  the  roof  falling  and  makes  them  firm  against 
the  ceiling  by  driving  a  flat  wedge  between  the 
top  of  the  prop  and  the  coal.     This  flat  wedge 


Geography  for  (fu  Fourth  Grade.  51 

also  remains  and  causes  the  prop  to  hold  up  a 
larger  section  of  the  roof  of  the  mine. 

Sometimes  the  props  are  not  so  much  needed. 
The  chief  work  of  the  miner  is  to  blast  out  the 
coal  from  the  face  of  the  chamber  and  set  up  the 
props.  When  ready  to  begin  blasting"  he  takes  up 
the  drill,  an  iron  rod,  five  and  a  half  feet  long, 
and  more  than  an  inch  in  diameter.  It  is  sharp 
like  a  chisel  at  the  point.  With  quick,  sharp 
strokes  and  by  turning  the  drill  in  his  hands,  the 
miner  works  a  hole  into  the  face  of  the  coal  about 
four  and  a  half  feet  deep.  After  this  hole  has 
been  cleaned  out,  a  cartridge  containing  black 
powder  is  pushed  into  the  farthest  extremity  of 
the  hole.  Pine  moist  dust  is  then  pressed  against 
the  cartridge,  leaving  a  small  hole  from  which  a 
fuse  may  reach  the  cartridge.  The  fuse  is  then 
laid  in  this  hole  and  lighted.  The  miner  cries 
'•Fire''  and  the  men  hasten  to  g'et  behind  some 
pillar  or  wall  of  coal.  The  fuse  burns  slowly  and 
the  men  have  plenty  of  time  to  escape  from  dan- 
ger. The  explosion  throws  out  a  considerable 
quantity  of  coal  into  the  chamber  in  large  and 
small  pieces.  Soon  the  miner  is  at  work  boring 
another  hole  for  blasting.  But  the  boring  is  often 
very  difficult  and  laborious;  sometimes  the  miner 
works  on  his  hands  and  knees,  sometimes  lying  on 
his  back  on  the  wet  floor,  sometimes  holding  the 
drill  high  above  his  head,  sometimes  he  uses  a 
machine   drill    worked    by  a  crank.      When    the 


52  Special  Method. 

miner  has  blasted  down  the  coal  and  set  up  the 
props,  his  day's  work  is  done.  He  enters  the  mine 
at  seven  or  before,  and  often  has  his  day's  work 
done  by  ten  or  eleven  o'clock.  The  laborer  has 
to  break  up  the  chunks  of  coal,  load  into  the  cars, 
move  the  cars  to  the  gangway,  and  keep  the 
chamber  clean  for  work.  His  day's  work  lasts 
longer  than  the  miner's,  but  he  hopes  some  day  to 
be  a  miner  himself. 

Boys  are  often  employed  in  the  mines  to  drive 
the  mules  back  and  forth  from  the  foot  of  the 
shaft  with  the  trains  of  cars.  Sometimes  they 
open  and  close  the  doors  in  the  air  passages.  In 
Pennsylvania  they  are  prohibited  from  working 
in  the  mines  under  fourteen  years. 

The  dangers  connected  with  mining  are  num- 
erous and  the  law  requires  that  many  precautions 
shall  be  taken  to  prevent  accident  and  death. 
Some  of  the  chief  dangers  are  from  caving  in  of 
the  roof,  from  explosions  of  fire-damp,  from 
deadly  gases,  from  flooding  the  mines  with  wa- 
ter, from  fires  in  the  shaft  or  in  the  tunnels.  Be- 
sides these,  there  is  danger  from  the  falling  of 
cars  and  other  objects  in  the  shaft,  from  collisions 
between  the  cars,  etc.  One  of  the  most  common 
dangers  is  from  the  caving  in  of  the  roof;  in  spite 
of  the  care  taken  to  prop  up  the  roof  with  heavy 
posts,  the  roof  caves  in,  breaking  the  posts  and 
crushing  the  men  to  death.  It  happens  sometimes 
very  suddenly,  and  in  some  cases  several  acres  of 


fleography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  53 

tunnels  have  fallen  at  once,  burying-  many  men. 
At  times  the  men  can  tell  by  the  creaking-  noises 
that  the  roof  is  about  to  fall-  and  can  save  them- 
selves. 

Fire-damp  and  other  inflammable  gases  are  con- 
stantly oozing  from  the  coal  in  some  deep  mines, 
and  unless  the  current  of  air  is  strong,  they  col- 
lect and  are  ignited  by  a  lamp,  causing  an  explo- 
sion. As  these  burning  gases,  being"  lighter  than 
the  air,  lie  along-  the  roof  of  the  mine,  the  miner 
throws  himself  with  his  face  to  the  ground  and 
his  arms  around  his  head  to  escape  the  heat  above. 
But  as  soon  as  the  gases  have  burned  out,  he  rises 
quickly  and  escapes,  as  the  poisonous  after-damp, 
or  smoke  from  the  fire,  settles  to  the  ground,  and 
a  single  breath  of  this  will  suffocate  the  miner. 

In  some  cases  a  flood  of  water  and  mud  has  been 
known  to  break  through  the  wall  of  the  mine  and 
drown  or  bury  the  men  suddenly.  This  is  espec- 
ially apt  to  be  the  case  when  a  new  mine  is  being 
worked  near  an  old,  abandoned  one,  in  which  great 
quantities  of  water  have  been  allowed  to  collect. 

Fires  have  sometimes  broken  out  in  mines  re- 
sulting- in  the  death  of  hundreds  of  workmen.  Men 
are  suffocated  by  the  smoke,  heat,  and  gases  pro- 
duced. In  a  few  cases  the  buildings  over  the 
shaft  have  first  taken  fire  and  then  the  woodwork 
in  the  shaft,  and  gradually  the  mine  below.  G-f 
course  the  air  currents  were  stopped  and  the  men 
below  suffocated. 


54  Special  Method. 

The  machinery  connected  with  a  large  coal 
mine  is  varied  and  extensive.  Not  far  from  the 
entrance  to  the  shaft  are  the  engine  houses  for 
hoisting  the  carriages,  coal,  men,  etc.,  also  the 
engine  for  pumping  the  water  from  the  mine. 
The  elevators  or  carriages  have  tracks  on  the 
floor  upon  which  the  loaded  coal  cars  can  be  run. 
Mules  are  used  in  the  gangways  and  air  passages 
for  hauling  the  cars  to  and  from  the  shaft.  Some- 
times a  stable  is  fitted  up  in  the  mine  and  the 
mules  are  kept  below.  Wooden  tracks  are  laid  for 
the  cars.  Air  boxes  are  laid  in  places  for  conduct 
ing  fresh  air.  Besides  these  things  there  are  tools, 
powder,  lamps,  and  oil  needed  in  mining. 

Above  ground  in  the  anthracite  coal  regions  is 
the  large  building  known  as  the  breaker,  where  the 
large  chunks  of  coal  are  broken  between  great 
revolving  wheels  or  cylinders  with  pointed  iron 
teeth.  The  broken  coal  then  passes  into  wire 
screens  with  small  meshes,  through  which  the  fine 
pieces  drop,  and  the  coarser  pieces  passed  on  to 
coarser  screens  till  at  length  the  larger  pieces  are 
dropped  through.  In  this  way  the  coal  is  sepa- 
rated into  several  varieties  according  to  the  size 
of  the  lumps,  such  as  lump  coal,  egg  coal,  nut  coal, 
etc.  In  the  breakers,  boys  are  also  employed  to  sit 
in  the  troughs  and  shutes  to  pick  out  the  pieces  of 
slate  and  stone  and  throw  them  to  one  side. 

"The  first  visit  to  a  mine  is  full  of  strange 
sights  and  sounds.    The  first  noteworthy  thing  is 


(iinyniphy  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  55 

the  descent  on  the  cage  or  carriage.  Under  the 
care  of  one  of  the  mine  foremen,  we  were  allowed 
to  go  down.  Prom  the  head  to  the  foot  of  every 
shaft  a  speaking  tube  extends,  and  signaling  ap- 
paratus which  is  continued  to  the  engine  room. 
At  the  head  of  the  shaft  is  stationed  a  headman 
and  at  the  foot  of  the  shaft  a  footman,  whose 
assistants  aid  in  pushing  the  cars  on  and  off  the 
carriages.  The  footman  is  notified  of  your  com- 
ing as  you  take  your  place  in  the  empty  safety 
carriage.  It  swings  lightly  as  you  step  on  it  re- 
alizing that  besides  the  few  inches  of  planking 
under  your  feet  there  is  nothing  between  you  and 
the  floor  of  the  mine  five  hundred  feet  or  more 
below  you.  When  all  is  ready  the  foreman  cries 
"Slack  off!"  the  carriage  is  slightly  raised  and 
the  descent  begins.  If  the  carriage  goes  down  as 
rapidly  as  usual,  your  first  sensation  will  be  that 
of  falling  and  your  first  impulse  will  be  to  grasp 
something  above  you.  Then  it  will  seem  as  if  the 
motion  were  reversed  and  there  will  be  an  alter- 
nation of  these  sensations  during  the  minute  or 
two  occupied  in  the  descent.  Finally  the  motion 
of  the  carriage  becomes  suddenly  slower  and  you 
feel  it  strike  gently  at  the  bottom  of  the  shaft. 
As  you  step  into  the  darkness  nothing  is  visible 
to  you  except  the  shifting  flames  of  the  work- 
men's lamps.  After  a  few  minutes  3^ou  are 
able  to  distinguish  objects  that  are  ten  or 
fifteen    feet    away.      You  can   see   through   the 


56  Special  Method. 

murky  atmos})here  the  rough  walls  of  the  solid 
coal  about  you,  the  flat,  black,  moist  roof  over- 
head, the  mine  car  track  at  your  feet.  The  car- 
riages appear  and  disappear  and  are  loaded  and 
unloaded  at  the  foot  of  the  shaft,  while  the  pass- 
age at  one  side  of  which  you  sit  is  filled  with  mine 
cars,  mules,  and  miner  boys  in  apparently  inex- 
tricable confusion.  The  body  of  a  mule  looms  up 
suddenly  in  front  of  you,  j^ou  catch  a  glimpse  of  a 
boy  hurrying  by  you;  a  swarthy  face  lighted  up 
by  the  flame  of  a  lamp  gleams  out  of  the  dark- 
ness, but  the  body  that  belongs  to  it  is  in  deep 
shadow;  you  cannot  see  it. 

"Bare,  brawny  arms  become  visible  and  are 
withdrawn,  men's  voices  sound  strange,  there  is 
a  constant  rumbling  of  cars,  a  regular  clicking 
sound  as  the  carriage  stops  and  starts,  incessant 
shouting  of  the  boys;  somewhere  the  sound  of 
falling  water.  Such  are  the  sights  and  sounds  at 
the  shaft's  foot.  If  now  you  pass  in  along  the 
gangway,  throwing  the  light  to  your  feet  to  see, 
there  will  be  a  sense  of  confinement  in  the  narrow 
passage  with  its  low  roof  and  close,  black  walls. 
Occasionally  you  will  have  to  crowd  against  the 
rib  to  let  a  trip  of  mine  cars  pass  by.  drawn  by  a 
smoking  mule,  in  charge  of  a  boy  with  soiled  face 
and  greasy  clothes.  You  are  lucky  if  you  are  in 
a  mine  where  the  roof  is  so  high  that  you  need 
not  bend  over  as  you  walk.  The  men  whom  you 
meet  have  little  lamps  on  their  caps,  smoking  and 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  57 

flaming"  in  the  strong"  air  current.  Everything  is 
black  and  clingy.  Now  you  come  to  a  door  on  the 
upper  side  of  the  gangway.  A  small  boy  jumps 
up  from  a  bench  and  pulls  the  door  open  for  the 
party  to  pass  through.  As  it  closes  behind  you 
the  strong  current  nearly  extinguishes  your 
lamp.  You  walk  along  the  air- way  for  a  little 
distance  and  then  you  come  to  the  foot  of  the 
chamber.  Up  someAvhere  in  the  darkness,  ap- 
parently far  away,  you  see  four  lights  twinkling. 
They  appear  and  disappear.  They  waver  from 
side  to  side,  they  bob  up  and  down,  till  you  won- 
der what  strange  contortions  the  people  who  carry 
them  must  be  going  through  to  give  them  such  er- 
ratic movements.  By  and  by  there  is  a  cry  of 
"Fire !"  It  is  repeated  several  times.  Three  lights 
move  suddenly  down  the  chamber  and  disappear, 
then  the  fourth  one  approaches  and  disappears 
also.  The  men  who  carry  them  have  hidden  be- 
hind pillars.  You  wait,  one,  two,  three  minutes, 
looking  into  the  darkness.  Then  there  is  a  sudden 
wave-like  movement  in  the  air,  it  strikes  your 
face;  you  feel  it  in  your  ears;  the  flame  of  your 
lamp  is  blown  aside.  Immediately  there  is  a 
sound  of  explosion  and  the  crash  of  falling 
blocks  of  coal.  Soon  the  lights  reappear,  all  four 
of  them,  and  advance  toward  the  face.  In  a 
minute  they  are  swallowed  up  in  the  powder  smoke 
that  has  rolled  out  from  the  blast.  But  when  the 
smoke  has  reached  and  passed  you  the  air  is  clear 


58  Special  Method. 

again,  and  the  lights  twinkle  and  dance  as  merrily 
as  they  did  before  the  blast  was  fired.  Now  you 
g'o  up  the  chamber,  being  careful  not  to  stumble 
over  the  high  caps  into  the  notches  with  which  the 
wooden  rails  of  the  track  are  lined.  On  one  side  is 
a  wall  built  up  with  pieces  of  slate  and  the  refuse 
of  the  mine;  on  the  other  you  can  reach  out  and 
touch  the  heavy  wooden  props  that  support  the 
roof.  Up  at  the  face  there  is  a  scene  of  great 
activity.  Bare-armed  men,  without  coat  or  vest, 
are  working  with  bar  and  pick  and  shovel,  mov- 
ing the  fallen  coal  from  the  face,  breaking  it, 
loading  it  into  the  mine  car  which  stands  near  by. 
The  miners  are  at  the  face  prying  down  loose 
pieces  of  coal.  One  takes  his  lamp  and  flashes  its 
light  along  the  black,  broken,  shiny  surface,  de- 
ciding upon  the  best  point  to  begin  the  next 
drill  hole,  and  giving  quick  orders  to  the  labor- 
ers. He  takes  up  his  drill,  balances  it  in  his 
hand,  strikes  a  certain  point  on  the  surface  with 
it,  turning  it  slightly  at  each  stroke.  He  has 
taken  his  position  lying  on  his  side  perhaps,  and 
then  begins  the  regular  tap,  tap  of  the  drill  into 
the  coal.  The  laborers  having  loaded  the  mine  car, 
remove  the  block  from  the  wheel,  and  now,  grasp- 
ing the*  end  of  it  firmly,  hold  back  on  it  as  it 
moves  by  gravity  down  the  chamber  to  the  gang- 
way. You  may  follow  it  out,  watch  the  driver 
boy  as  he  attaches  it  to  his  trip,  and  g'o  with  him 
to  the  foot  of  the  shaft. 


Geography  for  tlve,  Fourth  Grade.  59 

''You  have  seen  something  of  the  ceaseless  ac- 
tivity and  noise  of  a  mine  when  hundreds  of  men 
are  at  work.  But  when  you  are  alone  in  such  a 
place,  or  in  an  abandoned  mine,  the  stillness  is 
profound  like  nothing-  above  ground." 

The  above  description  applies  especially  to  the 
anthracite  coal  region,  where  the  coal  is  got  out 
by  blasting,  and  large  buildings  above  ground, 
called  breakers,  prepare  the  coal  by  crushing  and 
separating  it  for  the  market. 

The  bituminous,  or  soft  coal  fields,  are  worked 
upon  a  somewhat  different  plan.  The  seams  of 
coal  do  not  lie  so  deep,  drifts  are  much  more  used, 
and  instead  of  drilling  holes  into  the  coal,  grooves 
are  cut,  and  then  by  prying  or  blasting,  the  coal 
is  got  free.  The  soft  coal  beds  are  more  level  and 
uniform,  and  for  this  reason  more  easily  worked. 

If  we  turn  to  the  uses  to  which  coal  is  put  after 
reaching  the  surface,  wTe  shall  begin  to  see  the 
importance  of  this  business.  The  mines  are 
usually  along  railroad  lines  or  rivers,  which  dis- 
tribute it  to  those  districts  where  it  is  most  used. 
The  railroads  themselves  consume  a  great  deal  in 
their  locomotive  engines  for  freight  and  passenger 
service.  The  railroad  machine  shops  depend  upon 
coal  for  putting  their  machinery  in  motion,  for 
their  furnaces,  forges,  stationary  engines,  etc.  In 
our  towns  and  cities  the  multitude  of  factories  de- 
pend almost  entirely  upon  coal,  as  in  car  shops, 
rolling  mills,  glass  works,  foundries,  factories  for 


60  Special  Method. 

the  manufacture  of  carriages,  furniture,  boots  and 
shoes,  cotton  and  woolen  goods,  paper,  printing 
presses,  farming  implements,  etc.  Except  when 
water-power  is  used  in  flour  mills,  woolen  mills, 
etc.,  most  of  our  factories  are  run  by  steam 
engines.  Coal  is  also  of  importance  in  most  house- 
holds for  heating  purposes.  Dwellings,  school 
houses,  and  buildings  of  all  sorts  are  heated  gen- 
erally by  the  use  of  coal.  It  is  clear,  then,  that 
coal  mining  is  one  of  those  occupations  that  is 
necessary  to  the  success  of  nearly  all  other  kinds 
of  business,  and  to  the  comfort  of  most  people  in 
their  homes.  The  men  who  are  digging  in  the 
dark  earth  far  below  the  surface  are  supplying  all 
other  classes  of  people  with  the  means  of  doing 
business  and  of  living  in  comfort. 

That  the  prairie  states  of  the  West  be  well  sup- 
plied with  coal  fields  is  of  special  importance. 
Without  these  underground  riches,  the  states  of 
Illinois  and  Iowa,  for  example,  could  not  settle 
up  so  rapidly;  railroads  could  not  have  been  built 
and  operated,  and  farmers  could  not  ship  the  rich 
products  of  the  prairies  to  the  East '  and  receive 
in  return  the  manufactures  and  other  exchanges 
of  that  section. 

Let  us  observe  the  location  of  the  chief  coal- 
fields. In  Illinois  they  extend  over  about  two- 
thirds  of  the  state  south  of  a  line  drawn  from 
Rock  Island  to  Joliet.  The  coal  lies  at  different 
depths  and  in  separate  strata.      In  a  number  of 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  61 

places  the  coal  veins  crop  out  along"  the  banks  of 
creeks  and  rivers,  as  at  Danville,  Peoria,  etc.,  but 
usually  vertical  shafts  are  sunk  from  a  hundred  to 
five  or  six  hundred  feet  deep.  In  the  south  central 
part  of  the  state  some  of  the  coal  beds  lie  more  than 
a  thousand  feet  below  the  surface,  but  only  the 
upper  veins,  nearer  the  surface,  are  yet  worked. 
Many  thousands  of  men  are  employed  in  the  coal 
mines  of  Illinois.  In  1889,  11,597,963  tons  of  coal 
were  mined  in  Illinois,  which  stands  second  only  to 
Pennsylvania  in  the  amount  of  coal  produced. 

Several  of  the  neighboring-  states  also  have 
extensive  coal  areas.  A  strip  along  the  south- 
western part  of  Indiana  yields  much  coal.  This 
is  a  continuation  of  the  Illinois  field,  and  extends 
south  through  Kentucky  into  Tennessee.  Alto- 
gether these  four  states  have  about  sixty  thou- 
sand square  miles  of  coal  area. 

Another  extensive  coal  field,  larger  still,  ex- 
tends through  central  and  western  Iowa,  into  Mis- 
souri, Eastern  Nebraska,  Kansas,  Arkansas,  and 
Indian  Territory.  The  whole  western  slope  of  the 
Alleghany  mountains  also  has  rich  coal  deposits,  as 
in  Pennsylvania,  West  Virginia,  Ohio,  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  and  Alabama.  In  Michigan,  Colorado, 
and  Texas,  there  are  also  smaller  coal  areas,  be- 
sides those  east  of  the  Alleghanies  and  west  of  the 
Rockies.  (In  order  to  fix  these  coal  fields  definitely; 
consult  the  map  on  page  53  of  Tilden's  Commer- 
cial Geography,  Leach,  Shewell,  Sanborn  &  Co.; 


62  Special  Method. 

also  Frye's  Complete  Geog.  p.  137.)  Locate  the 
coal  fields  by  states  on  a  map  and  draw  the  map. 

Notice,  on  a  large  map  of  the  United  States, 
the  cities  which  lie  in  or  near  the  coal  fields,  and 
see  if  they  have  any  relation  to  the  shipping"  of 
coal.  Observe,  also,  any  navigable  rivers  which 
may  be  useful  in  distributing  this  coal.  Let 
teacher  and  pupils  draw  a  map  of  the  Mississippi 
valley,  locating  the  coal  areas  by  states;  also  the 
cities  and  rivers  above  suggested. 

The  careful  and  detailed  description  thus  far 
given  of  the  business  of  coal  mining,  is  designed 
to  bring  out  clearly  its  importance  as  related  to 
commerce,  manufacturing,  and  domestic  use,  so 
that  when  we  touch  upon  coal  mining  and  the 
other  occupations  to  which  it  is  related,  we  shall 
at  once  see  their  significance. 

Later  in  the  study  of  other  kinds  of  mining  op- 
eration, as  in  lead,  silver,  zinc,  and  gold  mining, 
the  knowledge  gained  from  coal  mines  will  be  of 
much  service,  and  a  comparison  with  coal  mines 
to  point  out  differences  and  similar  methods,  will 
be  helpful.  The  knowledge  gained  from  a  full 
study  of  a  single  typical  coal  mine  in  the  Missis- 
sippi valley  will  help  not  only  in  understanding 
coal  mines  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States 
and  in  the  world,  but  also  for  interpreting  ail 
kinds  of  mining  operations. 


Note.— Most  of  the  above  facts  are  obtained  from  Greene's  Coal 
and  Coal  Mines,  published  by  Houghton.  Mifflin  &  Co. 


lidx/niphi/  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  63 

The  Prairies. 

Illinois  has  been  called  the  "prairie"  state, 
although  other  states,  like  Iowa,  are  perhaps  still 
better  deserving-  of  the  name.  When  the  white 
men  first  explored  this  state  they  followed  the 
rivers  in  canoes  and,  as  the  bluffs,  bottom-lands, 
and  ravines  near  the  streams  were  covered  largely 
with  forests,  it  seemed  to  them  much  like  a  wooded 
country.  But  when  they  climbed  the  bluffs  to 
hunt  the  herds  of  deer  and  buffalo,  they  saw 
great  stretches  of  beautiful  rolling  or  level  lands, 
treeless  for  miles,  and  covered  in  summer  with  a 
rich  wild  grass  and  bright  with  thousands  of  wild 
flowers.  These  waving  prairies  were  the  favorite 
hunting  grounds  of  the  Indians  and  were  grazed 
upon  by  herds  of  buffalo  and  deer.  The  prairies 
were  dotted  over  with  ponds,  wThich,  in  their  sea- 
son, were  covered  with  wild  geese  and  ducks. 
The  prairie-chicken,  wild  turkey,  and  other 
smaller  game  were  also  abundant.  In  the  strips 
of  timber,  bear,  wildcat,  and  squirrel  were  hunted. 
The  Indians  depended  for  food  largely  upon  their 
regular  hunting  seasons  and  the  early  white  ex- 
plorers and  settlers  supplied  themselves  in  the 
same  way.  Many  old  settlers  are  still  living  in 
Illinois  who  have  seen  the  deer  quite  abundant  on 
the  prairies  of  our  stale. 

This  prairie  region,  though   beautiful  and  at- 
tractive as  a  hunting  ground,  was  not  deemed  of 


64  Special  Method. 

much  value  by  the  early  settlers.  The  prairie 
often  extended  for  ten  or  twenty  miles  between 
the  strips  of  timber. 

The  prairie  which  lies  north  and  east  of  Bloom- 
ington,  Illinois,  is  a  good  type  of  these  treeless 
plains.  Bloomington  was  built  in  the  edge  of  a 
strip  of  timber  along-  Sugar  Creek.  To  the  north 
the  rolling  prairie  extended  nine  or  ten  miles  to 
Hudson,  where  another  strip  of  woods  is  met.  A 
line  of  woods  about  six  miles  west  of  Blooming- 
ton,  forms  the  western  limit  of  this  prairie.  Near 
Towanda,  about  nine  miles  northeast  of  Blooming- 
ton,  the  woods  again  limit  the  prairies  on  that  side. 
The  main  body  of  this  prairie,  then,  is  about  nine 
miles  by  twelve  and  is  a  rolling  country  of  great 
beauty  and  richness.  In  the  summer  time  the 
wild  grass  grew  to  the  height  of  a  foot  or  a  foot 
and  a  half  and,  before  the  prairies  were  broken 
by  the  plow,  was  often  mowed  and  the  hay  pre- 
served. In  the  fall  when  the  grass  was  dry  and 
some  hunting  party  had  set  fire  to  it,  the  flames 
would  sweep  across  the  prairies  with  a  great  roar 
and  cloud  of  smoke  which  proved  fatal  to  animals 
and  men  in  their  track. 

The  early  settlers  of  Illinois  built  their  log 
houses  near  the  streams  in  the  strips  of  timber 
that  bordered  them.  The  wooded  parts  of  the 
state  are  along  the  valleys  of  the  rivers  and 
smaller  streams.  Oak,  hickory,  walnut,  maple 
and  other  hardwood  trees  form  quite  extensive 


Geography  for  tin   Fourth  Grade.  65 

forests  along'  the  rough  or  hilly  country  that  lies 
close  to  the  river  valleys.  These  woods  furnished 
the  early  settlers  with  materials  for  building 
houses,  fences,  barns,  and  for  wagons  and  other 
farm  tools.  The  woods  also  supplied  an  abundance 
of  cheap  fuel,  while  game  was  hunted  among  the 
groves.  In  fact  for  many  years  in  the  early  set- 
tlement of  Illinois,  the  forest  districts  were  much 
more  valuable  and  useful  than  the  prairies. 

In  those  early  days  of  our  grandfathers  there 
were  few  wagon  roads,  to  say  nothing  of  railroads. 
Many  of  the  early  settlers  from  the  East  came  by 
water,  some  by  way  of  Lakes  Erie,  Huron,  and 
Michigan  to  Chicago,  and  some  by  way  of  the 
Ohio,  Mississippi,  and  Illinois  Rivers.  They  loaded 
their  household  goods  on  flatboats  or  steamboats 
at  Pittsburg,  passed  slowly  down  that  river  to 
its  mouth,  and  then  up  the  Mississippi  and  Illinois 
to  Peoria,  or  some  other  river  town,  from  which 
they  secured  teams  to  carry  their  goods  across  the 
country  to  the  place  of  settlement. 

The  first  white  men  paid  little  attention  to  the 
prairies.  These  broad,  waving  meadows,  extend- 
ing often  for  many  miles,  were  not  much  used, 
except  for  hunting  and  pasture.  But  the  prairie 
lands  bordering  the  timber  were  often  turned  into 
fields  for  corn,  potatoes,  etc.  One  reason  why  the 
prairies  were  not  used  at  first  was  the  fact  that 
not  much  grain  was  raised  for  shipment.  There 
were  no  roads  or  good  markets  for  grain,  and  the 


66  Special  Method 

farmers  only  raised  what  they  'needed  for  family 
use  or  for  feeding"  their  stock. 

But  the  soil  of  the  prairies  was  much  deeper 
and  richer  than  that  in  the  wooded  regions,  and 
the  farmers  learned  in  time  that  it  was  profitable 
to  break  up  the  prairies  with  the  plow  and  raise 
grain,  instead  of  cutting  down  trees,  grubbing  out 
stumps,  and  clearing  the  land  for  fields  among 
the  forests. 

The  farmers,  however,  who  began  to  settle 
upon  the  prairies  had  a  hard  struggle  to  convert 
them  into  good  farms.  The  soil  of  the  prairie  had 
never  been  turned  by  the  plow.  It  was  matted 
with  roots,  tough,  and  hard  to  break  or  turn.  Two 
or  three  yokes  of  oxen  hitched  to  a  single  plow 
were  necessary  to  break  up  this  old  sod  before  the 
first  effort  at  planting  and  cultivating  could  be 
made.  The  first  season  not  much  was  raised,  as 
the  sod  and  matted  roots  must  rot  before  a  good 
soil  was  formed.  But  with  the  second  year's 
plowing  the  soil  was  rich  and"  mellow,  and  yielded 
abundant  crops.  It  was  necessary,  also,  to  build 
houses,  barns,  fences,  find  springs  or  wells,  plant 
orchards  and  small  fruit,  secure  stock  and  simple 
farm  tools  and  machines.  For  many  years  the 
timber  used  was  cut  and  brought  from  the  neigh- 
boring woods,  or  it  had  to  be  hauled  from  the 
mills,  across  the  prairies. 

In  those  early  days  the  prairie  fires  were  a 
cause  of  danger  to   the    farmers.      Most  of  the 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  67 

prairie,  of  course,  was  unsettled,  and  when  fires 
once  started  across  them  in  autumn,  feeding-  on 
the  thick,  dry  grass,  with  a  brisk  wind,  the  far- 
mer on  the  prairie  was  in  danger  of  losing  houses, 
stacks,  and  stables — in  fact,  everything  which  he 
had  worked  so  long  and  hard  to  secure.  Various 
devices  were  used  by  the  farmers  to  prevent  such 
losses.  In  the  fall,  when  the  grain  had  been 
stacked,  he  would  burn  away  the  grass  around 
the  stacks  and  farm  yards,  so  that  the  autumn 
fires  could  not  come  near  the  stables,  stacks,  and 
houses — or,  he  would  plow  up  a  circle  of  ground 
about  the  stacks  and  stables  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. Sometimes,  when  the  prairie  fires  came 
unexpectedly  upon  farmers  who  were  unprepared, 
there  were  exciting  efforts  to  beat  out  the  fire  and 
save  the  houses  and  grain. 

Nearly  every  farmer  who  settled  upon  the 
prairies  desired  to  surround  his  farm  house  with 
groves  and  orchards.  Groves  of  cottonwood,  ma- 
ple, walnut,  willow,  and  orchards  of  apple,  cherry, 
and  plum  were  planted.  Gardens,  with  small 
fruit,  were  started,  large  fields  and  pastures 
fenced,  regular  roads  were  laid  out,  bridges  built; 
in  fact,  so  many  changes  were  made  in  the  whole 
ajipearance  of  the  country  that  the  Indians  would 
scarcely  recognize  their  old  hunting  grounds  if  they 
could  return  to  them.  Standing  now  upon  some 
high  point  or  knoll  on  the  prairies,  where  the  eye 
can  travel  many  miles  in  any  direction,  instead  of 


68  Special  Method. 

a  waving-  sea  of  grass,  one  now  sees  great  rustling 
fields  of  corn,  green  meadows,  yellow  fields  of 
oats  and  wheat  as  they  ripen  in  the  summer  tide, 
the  whole  country  dotted  with  groves  and  or- 
chards, almost  hiding  the  farm  houses  and  barns, 
tall  wind  mills  towering  above  the  tree-tops  busily 
pumping  water  for  the  cattle  or  grinding  grain. 
In  a  distant  village  are  seen  the  church  spires,  the 
tall  grain  elevators,  and  a  railroad  train  moving 
across  the  country  is  carrying  the  produce  of  the 
prairies  to  distant  regions. 

The  demand  for  trees  for  transplanting  in 
groves  and  orchards  upon  the  prairies  has  been  so 
great  that  large  nurseries  are  found  in  many  parts 
of  the  state,  where  thousands  of  seedlings  are 
raised,  fruit  trees  grafted  and  grown  for  shipping 
and  for  transplanting.  Evergreens,  maples,  fruit 
trees,  grape  vines,  berry  plants,  rose  bushes,  hedge 
plants  and  many  other  ornamental  and  useful  trees 
and  plants  have  been  abundantly  supplied  to  the 
farms  and  gardens  of  the  prairie  regions.  The  nur- 
sery business  is  still  a  very  important  and  exten- 
sive occupation  in  Illinois  and  other  prairie  states. 

Many  explanations  have  been  attempted  touch- 
ing the  cause  of  the  treeless  condition  of  these  ex- 
tensive plains  in  Illinois  and  in  the  neighboring 
states.  One  reason  assigned  is  that  the  rainfall 
is  less  in  the  prairie  belt  than  in  the  forest  country 
farther  east.  Then  the  prairie  fires  which  were 
accustomed  to  sweep  the  dry,  grassy  plains  de- 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  69 

stroyed  largely  the  young  tree  plants.  A  third 
reason  offered  is  that  the  black  close  soil  of  the 
prairies  is  not  favorable  in  a  natural  state  to  the 
sprouting  of  young  trees,  but  in  the  hilly  slopes 
near  the  streams  where  a  clay  and  sandy  soil  pre- 
vails forests  are  common.  It  is  supposed  by  some 
that  the  prairies  were  originally  wholly  covered 
with  shallow  ponds  and  lakes,  and  as  the  water 
gradually  drained  off  through  the  sloughs,  the 
marshy  edges  of  these  ponds  and  lakes  were  un- 
favorable to  the  growth  of  trees.  Whatever  the 
causes  may  have  been,  extensive  plains  in  this 
region  remained  with  no  vegetable  covering  but 
rich  grasses  and  wild  flowers. 

The  soil  of  the  prairies  is,  in  most  places,  a 
rich,  black  mold  from  one  to  two  feet  in  depth, 
and  produced  by  the  decay  of  vegetable  growth. 
Sometimes  it  is  possible  to  plow  for  miles  with- 
out touching  sand  or  gravel.  In  spite  of  heavy 
crops  the  soil  keeps  its  strength  and  by  deeper 
sub-soil  plowing,  and  by  proper  rotation  of  crops, 
it  continues  to  yield  abundantly.  The  rainfalls 
are  also  so  regular  that  a  total  failure  of  crops 
has  not  been  known  in  the  sixty  years  of  settle- 
ment, although  some  seasons  are .  too  dry  and 
others  too  wet  for  good  agriculture.  It  would  be 
difficult,  however,  to  find  a  country  with  a  richer 
soil,  or  a  more  regular  succession  of  good  har- 
vests. 

Many  low  places  among  the  plains  were  once 


70  Special  Method. 

covered  with  ponds,  sloughs,  and  extensive 
marshes,  sometimes  extending"  over  thousands  of 
acres  where  only  a  coarse,  rank  slough  grass  grew. 
These  wet  places  could  not  be  tilled  and  were  of 
but  little  use.  But  as  the  prairie  lands  were  set- 
tled up  and  converted  into  farms,  the  ponds  were 
drained  by  open  ditches  or  tiles  which  were  used 
to  draw  off  the  sluggish  waters.  Some  of  these 
marshy  lands  cover  whole  townships,  while  the 
ponds  and  lower  places  on  nearly  every  farm  are 
benefited  by  tile  drains.  By  means  of  this  system 
of  artificial  drainage,  the  land  has  been  brought 
under  cultivation,  and  these  are  found  to  be  the 
richest  and  most  productive  districts  of  the  state. 

The  business  of  ditching  and  draining  the 
prairies  ha&  jeen,  therefore,  an  important  part  of 
the  growth  of  the  state.  Ditching  machines  have 
been  extensively  used.  The  manufacture  of  tile 
for  drainage  has  been  carried  on  upon  a  large 
scale.  The  big  round  kilns  used  for  burning  the 
clay,  and  the  great  stacks  of  red  and  dark  tiles  of 
different  sizes  are  frequently  seen  in  the  towns  of 
the  prairie  region  along  the  railroad  lines. 

One  serious  difficulty  common  to  all  the  prairie 
regions  of  Illinois,  is  the  "bottomless  roads"  dur- 
ing a  good  share  of  the  winter  and  spring  seasons. 
The  rich,  sticky  soil  of  the  prairies  holds 
moisture  only  too  well,  and  during  two  or  three 
months  of  the  year  the  highways  are  almost 
impassable  with  loads.     Ditching  the  roads  along 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  71 

the  sides  and  throwing  up  the  dirt  in  the  center 
does  not  remove  this  difficulty,  and  there  is  so 
little  gravel  or  other  material  suitable  for  road- 
building  that,  as  yet,  no  great  improvement  has 
been  made. 

After  1850,  railroads  began  to  be  built  across 
the  prairies,  bringing  pine  lumber  and  other  mate- 
rials to  the  farmers  from  Chicago  and  the  lake 
regions,  and  making  it  possible  to  ship  corn, 
wheat,  cattle,  and  hogs  to  Chicago  and  other 
cities.  Coal  mines  were  also  opened,  and  coal 
was  much  used  upon  the  prairies  instead  of  wood. 
Before  the  days  of  railroads,  it  was  very  difficult 
for  the  prairie  farmers  to  get  their  grain  and  live- 
stock to  market.  They  sometimes  hauled  wheat 
and  salted  meat  a  hundred  miles  to  market  in 
wagons  Since  1850,  therefore,  the  settlement  of 
the  prairies  has  been  very  rapid.  Even  as  late  as 
1870,  however,  there  were  many  prairies  in  Illinois 
that  were  unfenced  and  still  covered  with  wild 
grass,  upon  which  anyone  could  freely  drive  his 
herds.  But  since  then  most  of  the  prairie  dis- 
tricts have  been  fenced  and  plowed,  and  are  now 
yielding  large  crops  of  grain  or  serving  as  pas- 
turage. 

The  description  we  have  given  of  the  prairies 
of  Illinois  will  answer,  also,  for  most  of  the  prairie 
stairs.  Northern  Missouri,  the  whole  of  Iowa, 
and  southern  Minnesota,  are  very  much  like  the 
prairie  lands  of  Illinois.      The  <'astern  half  of  Da- 


72  Special  Method. 

kota,  Nebraska,  and  Kansas,  also,  belong-  to  the 
prairie  belt,  and  are  a  corn,  grain,  and  stock  pro- 
ducing region  like  Illinois.  The  northern  part  of 
Indiana  and  the  southern  part  of  Wisconsin  show 
extensive  prairies.  There  is  no  fixed  line  between 
these  prairies,  and  the  arid  plains  of  the  west  in 
Dakota,  Kansas,  and  Nebraska.  The  one  hun- 
dredth meridian  may  be  taken  as  the  line  that 
separates  the  region  of  sufficient  rainfall  on  the 
east  from  the  arid  plains  on  the  west.  West  of 
the  Mississippi,  therefore,  the  prairies  have  a 
gentle  slope  upward  till  they  are  gradually 
changed  into  the  grazing  and  ranch  lands  of  west- 
ern Kansas  and  Nebraska,  where  there  is  not 
enough  rainfall  with  which  to  raise  crops. 

Before  leaving  the  prairie  region  it  is  advisable 
to  locate  the  chief  rivers  which  drain  the  prairie 
belt,  the  direction  of  their  slopes,  the  states  and 
parts  of  states  included,  and  perhaps  a  few  of  the 
chief  cities  or  trade  centers  which  lie  within  this 
district.  It  will  be  of  interest,  also,  to  notice  how 
far  the  coal  area,  studied  in  the  preceding-  topic, 
lies  within  the  prairie  belt,  and  to  what  extent 
the  use  of  coal  on  the  prairies  is  rendered  easy. 
The  definite  location  of  the  prairie  states  on  a 
wall  map.  and  the  drawing-  of  the  states  in  out- 
line wull  aid  the  fixing-  of  these  facts. 

We  shall  find  later,  in  discussing  corn  and  live 
stock,  lumbering  in  the  pineries  and  hardwood 
forests,  that  much  additional  light  will  be  thrown 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  73 

upon  the  prairie  country,  and  the  comparison  of 
it  with  the  region  of  the  pineries  and  hardwood 
forests  will  help  to  give  a  much  more  definite 
knowledge  of  the  surface,  commerce,  and  produc- 
tions of  those  parts  of  our  country. 

The  Pineries  and  Lumbering. 

In  Northern  Wisconsin  and  Minnesota,  where  the 
forests  of  white  pine  abound,  the  short,  cold  days 
of  winter  are  the  busiest  season  of  the  year.  The 
ground  is  usually  covered  with  deep  snow  which 
contrasts  with  the  dark  green  of  the  forests.  But 
the  branches  are  often  loaded  with  snow  and  ice 
so  that  Jack  Frost -is  monarch  of  all.  In  the 
autumn,  every  large  lumber  firm  which  has  pine 
lands  in  this  region  prepares  to  make  up  a  com- 
pany of  lumbermen  to  send  into  the  forests  to  cut 
down  and  prepare  the  logs  for  the  spring-time. 
The  foreman  of  the  lumber  company  scours  the 
river  towns,  hiring  men  for  the  winter  campaign. 
As  soon  as  they  have  spent  all  their  earnings  in 
the  boarding  houses  and  hotels,  the  men  are  ready 
to  pack  up  for  the  logging  camp.  Sixty  men 
make  up  a  logging  camp  of  average  size.  Such  a 
camp  is  located  in  the  midst  of  the  woods,  near  the 
bank  of  some  stream,  which,  when  the  melting 
snows  and  rains  of  spring  come,  can  float  down  to 
the  far-away  mills  the  great  piles  of  logs  which 
the  men  have  collected  upon  its  banks  during  the 
winter  season. 


74  Special  Method. 

We  will  describe  such  a  lumber  camp  on  a 
branch  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  above  Minne- 
apolis.    (See  Scribner  Magazine,  1893.) 

The  camp  consists  of  several  buildings  "made 
of  round  logs  and  roofed  and  floored,  generally, 
with  rough  boards.  There  is  a  men's  camp,  where 
the  men  lounge  and  sleep;  a  cook-camp,  which  is 
a  large  dining-room  and  kitchen  combined,  and  a 
large  barn  where  the  hay  is  stored  for  the  horses 
and  mules;  a  granary,  a  blacksmith's  shop,  and 
an  office  for  the  foreman,  with  an  extra  bed  for 
the  proprietor.  The  men's  camp  for  sixty  men  and 
the  cook's  camp  are  each  about  sixty  by  twenty 
feet.  The  men  sleep  in  rough  wooden  bunks, 
ranged  in  double  tiers  along  the  sides  of  the  camp. 
Formerly  they  lay  on  boughs  or  on  hay  with  a 
single  blanket  spread  over  it,  but  in  these  days 
they  have  their  bed-ticks  stuffed  with  hay  or 
straw."  A  big  fireplace  used  to  add  cheerfulness 
to  the  great  barn -like  room,  but  now  large  stoves 
are  used. 

There  is  much  work  to  be  done  about  the  camp, 
in  the  woods,  and  along  the  river,  before  the  act- 
ual work  of  felling  the  trees  and  hauling  the  logs 
begins.  A  gang  of  men  is  sent  along  the  river  for 
many  miles  to  clear  it  of  snags.  It  is  a  heavy 
piece  of  work,  wading  into  the  icy  waters,  loos- 
ening the  stumps  and  logs  and  dragging  them  out, 
with  horses.  The  men  camp  on  the  banks  at 
night  and  wade  the  streams  and  labor  during  the 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  75 

day  for  weeks  at  a  time.  But  at  last  the  river  is 
clear  for  the  spring  freshet.  Early  in  the  fall, 
road-makers  are  sent  out  to  the  lumber  camp  to 
lay  out  and  prepare  smooth,  well- graded  roads 
along-  which  the  heavy  sledges,  with  horses,  may 
safely  haul  the  great  loads  of  logs  to  the  banking 
grounds  along  the  river.  The  making  of  these 
roads  is  a  very  careful  piece  of  business.  "Along 
the  lines  which  have  been  carefully  laid  out,  the 
road-makers  fell  the  timber,  cutting  it  at  the 
roots  so  that  no  stumps  remain,  log  out  the  road 
to  its  proper  width,  and  then,  with  plow  and 
scraper,  mattock  and  shovel,  make  it  nearly  as 
level  and  quite  as  solid  as  a  railroad  grade.  The 
road-bed  is  sunk  a  little  below  the  level.  It  is 
plowed  out  after  each  snow  storm  with  great 
snow-plows,  and  sprinklers  are  run  during  freez- 
ing weather,  making  a  solid  bed  of  ice  over  which 
enormous  loads  can  be  hauled.''  The  log  sleighs 
are  from  ten  to  fourteen  feet  wide  on  the  cross 
beams,  and  one  or  two  teams  are  hitched  to  them. 
Of  course,  before  beginning  the  winter's  work,  a 
larg-e  supply  of  food  and  materials  must  be  hauled 
to  the  camp.  Hay  and  grain  for  the  horses,  tools, 
sleds,  blacksmith's  materials,  besides  food,  cloth- 
ing, and  medicines  for  the  men  are  provided. 

When  finally  the  winter's  work  begins  in  earn- 
est, a  logging  camp  is  a  busy  place.  Squads  of 
men  are  sent  out  to  fell  the  trees;  the  teamsters 
are  up  early  to  feed  and  groom  their  horses,  so  as 


76  Special  Method. 

to  baul  as  many  huge  loads  as  possible  to  the 
river  bank;  the  cook  and  his  helpers  are  busy 
almost  day  and  night,  preparing"  and  cooking- food 
for  the  hungry  men.  The  blacksmith  is  shoeing 
horses,  and  repairing  sleighsand  tools.  The  fore- 
man keeps  track  of  all  the  men,  their  time  and 
amount  of  work,  and  must  see  that  every  man 
earns  his  wages. 

The  men  are  out  early  at  the  trees,  working  in 
pairs  or  groups,  and  engaged  in  a  generous  rivalry 
to  see  who  can  bring  down  the  most  trees  and 
logs.  The  trees  are  now  generally  sawed  down 
instead  of  cut  with  the  ax.  By  driving  a  wedge 
into  the  saw-cut,  a  tree  can  be  thrown  into  any  de- 
sired direction.  When  the  tree  is  down,  it  is  di- 
vided off  into  standard  lengths  and  sawn  up. 
Then  the  logs  are  ready  to  be  taken  to  the  skids. 
"The  skid- way  consists  of  two  logs  about  ten  feet 
apart,  laid  perpendicular  to  the  log-road  and  well 
blocked  up,  upon  which  a  tier  of  logs  is  placed 
ready  to  be  loaded  on  the  sleighs  to  go  to  the 
banking  ground. "  To  get  the  logs  to  the  skid- way , 
cattle  were  once  much  used,  but  now  horses. 
Sometimes  the  logs  are  "snaked'  along,  being 
held  at  the  end  by  a  grappling  hook  called  "skid- 
ding tongs;"  but  the  big  logs  are  dragged  by  a 
team,  with  a  rude  sled  for  one  end  of  the  log  to  rest 
upon.  From  the  skids,  where  the  log's  have  been 
piled  up  by  the  loaders  into  lofty  tiers,  they  are 
rolled  onto  the  sleighs.      "When  it  comes  to  load- 


Geography  for  tlie  Fourth  Grade.  77 

ing  these  logs  on  the  sleighs,  judgment  and 
strength  and  skill  are  equally  required,  the  object 
being  to  get  as  large  a  load  as  possible."  The 
logs  have  to  be  well  balanced  and  firmly  laid,  or 
they  slip  and  slide  back.  Sometimes  the  load  is 
piled  up  as  high  as  a  load  of  hay,  and  contains 
many  tons  of  logs.  The  teamsters  then  drive 
carefully  along  the  smooth  road.  They  pass  men 
whose  business  it  is  to  watch  the  road,  fill  up  low 
places,  smooth  the  track,  and  thus  prevent  the 
sleighs  from  sliding  out  or  toppling  over.  At  the 
banking  grounds,  again,  great  skill  and  strength 
are  needed  in  piling  the  logs  on  the  edge  of  the 
stream,  where  they  may  easily  roll  into  the  water, 
in  the  spring. 

Deep  and  lasting  snows  are  of  great  impor- 
tance to  the  lumbermen.  In  some  winters  when 
there  is  little  snow  but  much  rain  and  slush,  the 
skids  are  full  of  logs  but  the  sleighs  can  not  run. 
Many  thousands  of  dollars  worth  of  logs  may  be 
piled  up  but  can  not  be  brought  to  the  stream. 
If  the  weather  is  cold,  the  sprinklers  are  set  at 
work  and  an  ice  road  is  made,  over  which  the  loads 
will  glide.  In  many  cases  railroads  have  been 
built  into  the  logging  regions  and  the  logs  hauled 
out  by  steam  power  to  the  banking  grounds.  The 
snow,  then,  is  of  great  value  to  the  lumbermen  both 
for  skidding  and  hauling  the  logs  and  for  melting 
in  spring-time  so  as  to  flood  the  stream  and  carry 
off  the  logs. 


78  Special  Method,. 

In  the  evening-,  after  the  hard  day's  work,  the 
camp  is  a  lively  scene.  The  hard  worked  men 
have  a  hearty  relish  for  substantial  food  and  they 
get  it  in  abundance.  "At  dinner  there  is  a  hearty 
bean  or  vegetable  soup,  and  generally  fresh  beef. 
For  every  meal  there  are  pork  and  beans,  corned 
beef,  potatoes,  turnips,  cabbage  and  sauer  kraut, 
plenty  of  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  molasses,  gingerbread, 
dried  apple  pie,  mince  pies  from  mince  meat  bought 
by  the  half  ton,  sauce  and  butter.  With  sixty 
men,  a  barrel  of  flour  must  be  converted  into  bread 
in  about  two  days.  After  supper  there  is  rest  and 
entertainment.  Along  each  side  of  the  camp  is  a 
seat  made  of  a  thick,  hewn  slab  for  which  the 
bunk  frames  furnish  a  back.  When  evening  comes, 
ranged  along  this  seat,  or  lounging  in  the  bunks, 
the  crew  of  men  become  a  social  club.  Then  jokes 
go  round  and  tales  and  songs  are  sung,  and  if 
there  is  a  fiddler  in  the  camp  dancing  begins." 
But  the  men  must  soon  get  to  bed  so  as  to  be  up 
betimes  for  the  morning's  work. 

There  are  many  dangers  and  accidents,  and  the 
reckless  boldness  of  the  men  in  handling  logs 
leads  to  broken  limbs  and  mangled  bodies.  In 
piling  the  logs  on  the  skids  and  at  the  banking 
grounds  there  is  special  skill  and  strength  needed 
to  prevent  serious  accidents.  But  the  men  are 
generous  in  helping  an  injured  comrade. 

"With  the  melting  of  the  snow  and  ice  in 
spring  comes  the  breaking  in   and   driving   the 


Geography  for  (he  Fourth  Grade.  79 

logs.  The  banking-  ground  swarms  with  men 
armed  with  cant-hooks,  furnished  with  strong 
pikes  in  the  end,  who  attack  the  great  tiers  of 
logs  as  they  lay  piled  in  the  landing.  Teams 
hitched  to  lines,  at  the  end  of  which  is  a  hook  sim- 
ilar to  a  cant-hook,  are  used  to  loosen  the  'key 
log.'  This  hook  is  driven  firmly  into  a  log  at  the 
foot  of  the  roll-way,  and  as  it  is  pulled  out  the 
whole  face  of  the  roll-way  topples  forward  into 
the  stream.  This  must  be  rejieated  again  and 
again.  Sometimes  while  men  and  horses  are  tug- 
ging to  loose  the  log  it  suddenly  gives  way  and 
down  thunders  the  towering  mass  of  logs.  The 
men  jump  for  safety  to  the  sides,  they  clamber 
and  keep  atop  of  the  plunging  logs,  they  jump 
for  safety  into  the  surging  stream,  coming  out 
generally  unhurt." 

As  soon  as  the  logs  are  set  afloat  two  crews  of 
men  are  sent  out  to  drive  the  logs  down  the 
stream  to  the  boom,  wThere  they  are  collected  and 
sorted.  The  forward  crew  is  called  the  "jam 
crew,"  whose  business  it  is  to  string  the  logs 
along  the  river  so  as  not  to  let  them  pile  up  to- 
gether and  get  wedged  in  the  stream.  Sometimes 
the  body  of  logs  lodges  in  a  narrow  passage  or 
bend  of  the  river,  or  upon  some  snag  or  sunken 
tree-top,  and  the  logs  must  be  loosened  and  again 
set  afloat.  A  great  log  jam,  however,  is  some- 
times formed  which  extends  for  miles  up  the 
river.    The  force  of  the  current  piles  up  the  logs  in 


80  Special  Mil  hod. 

great  heaps,  with  tree  trunks  projecting  in  every 
direction.  To  break  such  a  jam  and  send  the 
loosened  logs  floating  down  the  stream,  is  difficult 
and  dangerous.  A  rear  crew  follows  to  gather  up 
the  stray  logs  that  have  become  stranded  along 
the  banks  and  bayous  when  the  water  was  high. 
With  cant-hooks  the  crew  of  men  roll  the  logs 
into  the  stream.  Many  logs  are  thus  left  high 
and  dry  on  sand-bars  and  in  the  bayous  by  sudden 
floods  and  changes  in  the  water.  These  must  all 
be  rolled  down  to  the  stream  and  set  afloat.  The 
heavy  butt  logs  drag  in  the  low  water  and  must 
be  helped  over  shallow  places.  The  men  wade 
into  the  chill  waters,  ride  the  logs  over  the  rapids, 
and  are  wet  from  head  to  foot  most  of  the  time. 
But  they  get  double  wages  for  this  arduous  work 
and  exposure. 

At  length  the  logs  from  different  companies 
are  collected,  many  acres  of  them  floating  along 
the  bayous  and  river  banks,  above  the  boom.  The 
logs  of  each  company  are  marked  with  certain 
letters,  and  so  squads  of  men  from  the  different 
companies  are  set  to  work  to  collect  the  logs  of 
each  company  by  themselves  and  form  large  rafts, 
which  are  then  sent  down  the  river  with  rafting 
steamers  to  the  saw-mills.  Sometimes  three  or 
four  hundred  men  are  employed  at  a  boom  col- 
lecting and  arranging  the  logs  for  many  different 
companies. 

The  saw-mills  lower  down  the  stream  are  kept 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  81 

very  busy  in  summer  and  fall,  sawing-  up  the  logs 
and  stacking  the  lumber.  Many  of  the  lumber- 
men work  in  the  mills  in  the  summer  and  in  the 
logging  camps  in  winter.  The  machinery  of  the 
mills  at  Minneapolis  was  formerly  run  by  the  water 
power  of  the  falls,  but  now  most  of  the  larg-e  saw- 
mills are  above  the  falls  and  are  supplied  with 
steam  engines.  The  sawdust  from  the  mills  is 
the  only  fuel  used  and  much  more  is  produced 
than  is  needed  in  the  furnaces.  The  mill  stands 
on  the  river  bank  and  a  great  raft  of  logs  lies 
floating  in  the  water  below,  from  which  they  are 
drawn  up  singly  into  the  mill  by  means  of  an  end- 
less chain  with  hooks.  A  hundred  men  may  be 
employed  in  a  single  mill  and  the  circular  and 
band  saws,  and  especially  the  gang  saws,  turn  out 
great  batches  of  lumber  in  rapid  succession. 

Above  the  falls  at  Minneapolis  are  many  of 
these  larg"e  mills  with  extensive  lumber  yards, 
where  vast  quantities  of  lumber  are  stacked,  while 
in  the  waters  of  the  river  are  great  rafts  of  logs 
waiting  for  the  saws.  In  the  same  yard  with  the 
saw-mill  is  often  found  a  planing-mill  where  the 
rough  lumber  is  planed  and  worked  up  into  win- 
dow-frames, casing's,  doors,  and  other  finishing' 
lumber. 

Most  of  the  logs  of  the  Upper  Mississippi  are 
worked  up  in  the  saw-mills  at  Minneapolis.  Quite 
a  number  of  the  stray  logs  go  over  the  falls  and 
are  received  by  mills  in  the  cities  lower  down  the 


82  Special  Method. 

river.  Minneapolis  is  therefore  a  very  important 
center  for  the  manufacture  and  shipment  of  pine 
lumber.  The  great  prairies  of  Western  Minnesota 
and  Dakota  call  for  immense  quantities  of  pine 
lumber  for  use  in  house -building-,  for  barns,  bridges, 
fencing,  and  many  other  things.  The  railroads 
reaching  westward  from  Minneapolis- are  largely 
engaged  in  hauling  this  lumber  to  the  western 
towns.  The  mills  at  Minneapolis  are  constantly 
taking  orders  from  these  western  cities,  and  the 
success  of  their  business  depends  upon  the  amount 
of  lumber  needed  on  the  farms  and  in  the  towns 
of  the  prairie  regions.  A  failure  of  crops  in  Da- 
kota is  therefore  a  serious  drawback  to  the  lumber 
merchants  of  Minneapolis. 

It  is  clear  then  that  the  pine  forests  of  North- 
ern Minnesota  are  quite  important  to  the  farmers 
of  the  prairie  regions.  But  the  winter  snows  in 
the  pineries,  the  spring  ''floods  in  the  rivers,  the 
saw-mills  at  Minneapolis,  and  the  long  railroad 
lines  stretching  westward,  are  necessary  to  bring 
the  prairies  and  pineries  into  close  and  cheap 
communication.  The  lumbermen  in  their  camps 
must  also  receive  their  flour,  corn,  and  grain,  be- 
sides beef  and  other  meats  from  the  farmers  of 
the  prairie  districts.  Thus  the  exchanges  take 
place. 

Having  seen  the  movement  of  logs  from  the 
lumber-camps  along  the  Upper  Mississippi  to  Min- 
neapolis, and  the  distribution  of  lumber  from  that 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  83 

point  westward,  we  may  expand  this  idea  to  ob- 
serve how  far  it  is  repeated  in  other  states.  There 
are  several  large  lumber  streams  that  flow  into 
the  Mississippi  below  St.  Paul,  as  the  St.  Croix, 
Chippewa,  Black,  and  Wisconsin.  They  send 
thousands  of  logs  into  the  Mississippi  which  are 
sawed  up  at  the  great  saw-mills  at  Wabasha,  Red 
Wing,  Winona,  La  Crosse,  Davenport,  etc.  In 
fact  nearly  all  the  towns,  large  and  small,  along 
the  Mississippi  from  St.  Paul  to  St.  Louis,  are 
lumber  towns  with  saw  and  planing-mills,  and 
railroads  stretching  westward  over  which  the 
lumber  is  shipped  into  Iowa,  Kansas,  Nebraska, 
etc.  The  leading  industry  in  nearly  all  these  towns 
is  lumbering  and  milling.  Again,  if  we  look  to- 
ward Eastern  Wisconsin  and  Northern  Michigan, 
both  in  the  upper  and  lower  peninsula,  we  shall 
find  numerous  logging  rivers,  lined  with  lumber 
camps  and  saw-mills.  Thus  it  is  that  such  im- 
mense quantities  of  lumber  reach  Milwaukee,  Chi- 
cago, and  other  lake  ports  to  be  shipped  west  and 
southwest  into  the  prairie  region.  Chicago  is  one 
of  the  greatest  lumber  markets  in  the  world,  be- 
cause of  the  ship  loads  of  lumber  that  come  down 
to  Lake  Michigan  and  to  other  lakes  from  the 
lumber  streams  in  the  pineries.  Bay  City,  De- 
troit, and  other  cities  of  the  lower  peninsula  are 
important  centers  for  the  lumber  business.  If  we 
care  to  extend  this  inquiry  we  shall  find  that  that 
part  of  Canada  which  borders  the  lakes,  the  St. 


84  Special  Method. 

Lawrence  and  its  tributaries,  is  all  a  region  of 
pineries  and  lumbering-  similar  to  that  in  Minne- 
sota. Later  in  our  study  of  the  Eastern  States 
we  shall  be  interested  to  see  that  northern  New 
York,  along  Lake  Champlain  and  the  Hudson,  and 
the  rivers  of  Maine,  are  the  centers  of  a  lumber 
business  almost  identical  with  that  of  the  Upper 
Mississippi. 

After  such  an  inquiry  as  is  just  suggested,  we 
are  prepared  to  fix  the  region  of  pine  forests  in  at 
least  Minnesota,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan.  In 
doing  so  we  have  an  opportunity  of  locating  those 
states  more  carefully,  also  the  chief  tributaries  of 
the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  of  the  lake  region  and 
those  cities  which  are  important  centers  of  the 
lumber  trade  and  their  facilities  for  this  traffic. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  compare  more 
carefully  the  prairie  regions  already  treated  with 
the  pine  forests  in  regard  to  soil,  climate,  and 
general  appearance  of  the  country.  The  contrast 
is  a  striking  one.  These  tall,  gloomy  pineries, 
rooted  in  a  light,  sandy  soil  which  is  good  for 
little  else,  contrasted  with  the  black  mold  of  the 
prairies  which  supports  only  grasses  and  wild- 
flowers,  in  its  natural  state.  And  yet  these  two 
regions  are  very  necessary  to  each  other.  The 
study  of  the  mines  in  the  lake  regions  will  make 
this  still  more  apparent. 


See  on  Pineries  Scribner's  Mag.  93.      Information  Reader  No.  3. 
p.  195,  Forests. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  tirade.  85 

The  Upper  Mississippi. 

The  great  river  above  its  junction  with  the 
Missouri  is  very  different  from  the  stream  below. 
Above  St.  Louis  the  river  is  lined  with  bluffs  on 
both  sides.  It  is  a  mighty  trough,  crooked  and 
irregular,  winding  and  twisting  its  way  south- 
ward between  high  bluffs,  which  give  great  vari- 
ety of  scenery,  and,  being-  crowned  with  waving 
forests  or  steep  with  bare  rocks,  furnish  splendid 
panoramic  views  as  we  pass  up  or  down  the  river 
in  a  steamer.  Many  of  the  cities  like  Quincy, 
Davenport,  Clinton,  and  Dubuque  have  a  com- 
manding position  on  the  slopes  and  bluffs  skirting 
the  wide  valley.  Just  above  Davenport  and  Rock 
Island  the  river  passes  the  rapids  and  rocky 
ledges  which  have  made  navigation  at  this  point 
difficult  and  dangerous.  Here  also  is  the  island 
which  the  government  has  made  into  a  great  park 
with  arsenals  and  a  military  station.  Between 
the  island  and  the  west  shore  the  government  has 
built  a  series  of  jetties  and  rocky  buttresses  in 
the  channel  to  narrow  and  deepen  the  current. 
But  during"  low  water  in  July  and  August  the 
steamers  and  barges  have  difficulty  in  passing 
these  rapids.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  river  has 
broad  bottom  lands,  often  well  wooded  and  furn- 
ishing a  rich  soil  for  corn  and  grain  when  not 
flooded.  As  we  move  northward  the  bluffs  grad- 
ual'y  grow  higher  and   more    commanding,    the 


86  Special  Method. 

streams  coming  down  from  the  prairies  on  either 
side  must  cut  much  deeper  channels  in  order  to 
reach  the  river.  There  is  a  great  profusion  of 
forests  along-  the  bluffs,  which  give  an  appear- 
ance of  luxuriance  to  the  valley  which  is  in  keep- 
ing' with  the  richness  of  the  country. 

Between  LaCrosse  and  Winona  the  river  valley 
reaches  its  grandest  proportions,  and  its  isolated 
bluffs  appear  almost  as  mountains 

Before  leaving  Winona,  however,  it  is  well  to 
take  a  glance  at  the  panoramic  view  there  fur- 
nished. Standing  on  the  bridge  across  the  lake, 
which  is  really  an  old  channel  of  the  river, 
or  at  some  other  point  where  there  is  an  unob- 
structed view,  how  far  can  the  eye  travel  across 
the  valley  and  along  the  bluffs  on  either  side? 
Perhaps  we  shall  not  find  a  broader  or  more  in- 
teresting sight  than  is  spread  out  at  our  feet. 
As  we  go  up  the  river  we  shall  take  notice 
if  anything  finer  than  this  appears.  At  Winona 
the  bluffs  on  the  south  and  west  sweep  round  in 
a  great  curve  like  an  immense  bow,  and  if  a  string 
were  stretched  from  Trempealeau  Mountain  in 
the  southeast  to  the  corresponding  hills  in  the 
northwest,  Winona  would  lie  inside,  i.  c,  between 
the  bow  and  the  string.  The  bluffs  to  the  south- 
east look  like  distant  mountains,  while  the  reced- 
ing ridges  to  the  north  appear  almost  like  suc- 
cessive steps  as  they  fade  away  into  indistinct 
outlines  in  the  distance.     Standing  on  the  brow 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  37 

of  the  bluff  more  than  five  hundred  feet  above 
Winona  we  ma}T  look  up  the  great  river  valley 
about  thirty  miles,  and  southward  through  the 
narrow  gorge  at  Trempeleau  to  La  Crosse,  an 
equal  distance.  On  the  other  side  lies  Wisconsin 
with  its  castled  rocks  and  wooded  ravines. 

Without  dwelling  longer  upon  this,  we  em- 
bark, and  soon  find  that  the  river  has  a  devious 
course  among  the  lowlands.  The  bluffs  are  by 
no  means  straight  in  their  outlines,  but  the  chan- 
nel of  the  river  is  much  crookeder.  Why  does  the 
river  make  such  a  winding  course  among  the  sand 
banks,  jogging  from  one  side  of  the  broad  valley 
to  the  other?  Just  above  Winona  we  know  there 
is  a  network  of  bayous.  How  have  they  been 
formed.  In  times  of  spring  floods  the  whole 
broad  valley,  from  four  to  seven  miles  from  bluff 
to  bluff,  is  nearly  covered  with  the  rushing 
waters,  old  channels  are  cut  off  and  partly  filled 
while  new  ones  are  opened  Even  when  the  water 
is  not  s^  high  the  current  is  constantly  changing 
the  channel,  drifting  in  sand  in  one  place  and 
washing  it  away  somewhere  else.  Jetties  are  be- 
ing built  near  Winona  to  deepen  the  current. 
They  appear  as  narrow  ridges  of  stone  run 
out  into  the  stream  at  intervals  to  confine 
the  current  in  a  narrow  channel.  We  begin 
iow  to  see  what  difficulties  the  pilot  on  our 
boat  has  to  meet.  Not  only  must  he  know  all  the 
Windings  of  the   current  by  day  and  night,  even 


88  Special  Method. 

in  the  dark,  so  as  not  to  run  aground,  but  he  must 
keep  track  of  the  changes  which  take  place  by 
the  drifting  of  the  sands. 

We  are  already  familiar  with  the  ravines 
that  lie  between  the  bluffs.  On  our  left  we 
soon  see  the  still  broader  opening  where  the 
Kollingstone  comes  down  to  join  the  Mississippi. 
Here  lies  Minnesota  City,  one  of  the  oldest  set- 
tlements in  the  state.  Just  before  reaching  Wa- 
basha, the  opening  in  the  bluffs  on  the  west  shows 
where  the  Zumbro  river  comes  in,  upon  a  branch  of 
which  Rochester  is  situated.  Just  beyond  Wabasha 
the  Chippewa,  the  great  lumber  stream  of  Wiscon- 
sin, joins  the  Mississippi  from  the  north.  The 
town  itself,  like  Winona,  is  a  county  seat.  There 
is  also  a  bridge  of  boats  across  the  river  with 
a  draw,  through  which  our  boat  passes.  It  is  a 
town  much  like  Winona,  only  not  so  large.  Saw- 
mills and  great  piles  of  lumber,  machine  shops 
and  factories  can  be  seen.  Being-  just  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Chippewa,  Wabasha  can  get  lumber 
rafts  from  Wisconsin  as  easily  as  Winona  can. 
Beyond  Wabasha  the  Mississippi  bends  more  to- 
ward the  west,  and  not  many  miles  up  the  river 
we  enter  Lake  Pepin. 

The  bluffs  are  nearly  as  high  along  the  lake 
as  at  Winona,  but  only  about  half  as  far  apart. 
Nearly  the  whole  valley,  however,  between  the 
bluffs,  is  filled  with  a  deep  lake,  twenty-five  miles 
long  and  from  two  to  three  miles  wide.     On   the 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  89 

west,  one  long"  bluff,  near  Lake  City,  is  entirely- 
covered  with  forests.  On  the  other  side,  in  Wis- 
consin, stands  Maiden  Rock,  from  the  top  of 
which,  according-  to  Indian  story,  an  Indian 
maiden  jumped,  because  she  was  not  allowed  to 
wed  the  man  she  loved.  Her  name  was  Winona. 
Standing  on  one  of  the  cliffs  by  Lake  Pepin,  one 
gets  the  finest  view  along  the  Mississippi  in  Min- 
nesota. The  bluffs  themselves,  rocky  or  covered 
with  forests,  are  as  fine  as  those  near  Winona, 
but  between  them  lies  the  deep,  dark  lake,  filling' 
the  whole  valley.  Several  towns  and  villages 
are  in  sight  along  the  margin  of  the  lake.  Steam- 
boats and  rafts  move  along  over  the  water,  while 
swift  rumbling  railroad  trains  may  be  seen,  at 
times,  going  up  or  down  the  valley  on  both  sides 
of  the  lake  at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs.  This  is  a 
sight  well  worth  studying",  and  to  make  it  vivid 
and  real,  use  the  best  pictures  that  can  be  ob- 
tained. The  picture  of  Lake  Pepin  on  page  111 
of  Niles'  Elementary  Geography,  answers  this 
purpose  well,  and  can  be  at  the  disposal  of  every 
teacher. 

Between  the  upper  end  of  Lake  Pepin  and  the 
mouth  of  Cannon  River  is  the  town  of  Red  Wing, 
which  not  only  has  flour  and  saw  mills,  like  Wi- 
nona, but  also  a  pottery  where  jars,  crocks,  and 
other  stoneware  are  made.  A  kind  of  clay  is 
found  here  which  can  be  moulded  into  jars,  etc., 
and  after  being  dried  is  baked  and  burned  in  large 


90  Special  Method. 

kilns  or  ovens.  This  reminds  us  of  the  way  in 
which  brick  are  made  and  burned  in  the  brick 
kilns  at  home.  Whatever  additional  facts  of  in- 
terest and  pictures  connected  with  this  business 
the  teacher  can  give  will  be  of  value  at  this 
point.  At  Red  Wing-  there  is  also  a  boot  and  shoe 
factory,  where  boots  and  shoes  are  made  much 
more  rapidly  than  by  shoemakers  at  their  benches. 
How  is  it  done?  We  said  there  were  saw  mills  at 
Red  Wing-.  Where  do  their  rafts  of  logs  come 
from?  From  the  Chippewa?  But  the  mouth  of 
the  Chippewa  is  too  far  down.  Are  lumber  rafts 
floated  down  the  Cannon  River  from  the  west? 
No.  The  Cannon  River  comes  from  a  prairie 
country,  or  from  a  region  where  there  are  no  pine 
forests.  Perhaps  there  is  a  lumber  river  farther 
up  the  Mississippi  coming  from  the  pine  forests. 
We  shall  see!  Just  above  Red  Wing,  where  the 
Cannon  River  comes  in  from  the  west,  there  is  a 
broad  bottom  land  as  broad  as  the  valley  of  the 
Mississippi  River.  A  railroad  from  Red  Wing 
follows  the  valley  of  this  river  toward  the  west 
to  Cannon  City,  Northfield,  etc.  The  Cannon 
River  is  lined  with  fine  bluffs  and  wooded  hills, 
and  is  a  pleasant  trip  for  sight-seers  in  fine 
weather. 

But  from  Red  Wing  we  keep  up  the  Missis- 
sippi River  to  Hastings.  Just  before  reaching 
this  city  we  notice  a  large  river  coming  into  the 
Mississippi  from  the  north,  the  St.   Croix.     This 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  91 

is  the  great  lumber  stream  for  which  we  have  been 
looking".  It  comes  from  the  pineries  and  sends 
down  great  rafts  of  pine  logs  in  spring  time.  It 
was  at  a  narrow  place  in  this  stream  that  the  big- 
lumber  jam  recently  occurred.  If  possible  show  a 
good  picture  of  this  and  explain  it.  Many  of  the 
rafts  for  Wabasha,  Winona,  and  other  towns  are 
first  floated  down  the  St.  Croix.  At  Hastings  is 
another  great  railroad  bridge  across  the  Missis- 
sippi which  swings  open  at  the  sound  of  the 
steamboat  whistle.  This  is  the  bridge  where  the 
trains  of  the  Milwaukee  road  from  Winona  cross 
the  Mississippi  before  coming  to  St.  Paul.  At 
Hastings,  a  little  river,  the  Vermillion,  comes 
into  the  Mississippi  from  the  north.  As  it  passes 
over  the  rocks  it  forms  the  beautiful  Vermillion 
falls  near  the  city.  Hastings,  too,  has  flour  mills 
and  saw  mills.  Why  is  it  that  every  one  of  these 
towns  along  the  Mississippi  has  large  flour  mills 
just  as  Winona  has?  Where  does  all  the  wheat 
come  from  that  is  ground  in  these  mills?  Why 
are  all  the  important  towns  between  Winona  and 
St.  Paul  on  the  Minnesota  side  of  the  river — Wi- 
nona, Wabasha,  Red  Wing,  and  Hastings?  On 
our  journey  north  we  may  have  noticed  that  the 
bluffs  are  growing  lower  along  the  Mississippi. 
Before  reaching  St.  Paul  there  are  two  other 
points  of  interest,  Kaposia,  the  old  Indian  vil- 
lage just  below  the  great  bend,  and  Carver's  cave 
in  the  white  sandstone  rocks  just  below  St.  Paul. 


92  Special  Method, 

Here  the  Indian  tribes  were  accustomed  to  gather 
at  the  opening  of  every  spring. 

As  St.  Paul  comes  in  sight  there  seems  to  be 
a  lower  and  an  upper  town.  The  lower  town, 
where  the  wharves  and  stations  are,  is  not  many- 
feet  above  the  level  of  high  water.  This  level 
land  reaches  back  from  the  river  in  a  sort  of 
broad  valley.  Farther  up  the  river  we  can  see 
large  buildings  on  the  edge  of  steep,  white  bluffs. 
Several  bridges  for  railroads  and  wagons  cross 
the  river  to  the  south.  Most  of  them  slope  to- 
toward  the  south  side,  because  it  is  lower  there. 
The  steamboats  can  get  up  no  farther  than  this, 
and  at  the  wharf  in  St.  Paul  they  unload  their 
cargoes  and  take  on  such  grain,  flour,  and  pro- 
duce as  they  may  desire  to  carry  down  the  river. 
The  river  barges  also  unload  their  sand,  brick, 
and  building  stone  at  the  wharf.  Where  does  the 
building  stone  come  from?  Red  Wing  and  Dres- 
bach.  We  need  some  good  pictures  of  the  city  and 
river  at  this  point.  Close  at  hand  is  the  great  rail- 
road depot,  with  its  many  roads,  and  trains  com- 
ing and  going  at  all  hours.  On  the  way  up  the 
river  we  have  noticed  the  railroad  tracks  and 
trains  on  both  sides  of  the  great  valley.  Which 
are  more  rapid  and  convenient,  the  trains  or 
steamboats?     Which  do  the  greater  business? 

Here  let  us  take  a  general  survey  of  the  sur- 
face features  of  the  whole  state.  Briefly,  it  is  as 
follows:     At  St.  Paul  or   near  there  the  Missis- 


Geography  for  the  Fowrth  Grade.  93 

sippi  and  its  tributaries  branch  out  like  a  fan  and 
drain  the  great  interior  of  the  state.  Beyond  this 
the  Height  of  Land,  a  low  ridge  of  rounded  hills, 
circles  about  the  sources  of  the  Mississippi  f.rom 
the  western  to  the  northeastern  part  of  the  state. 
From  this  ridge  one  may  look  down  on  the 
streams  and  lakes  which  send  their  waters  south- 
ward to  the  Gulf,  or  on  the  other  side  upon 
streams  and  lakes  that  flow  northward  into  Hud- 
son Bay.  With  chalk  in  hand,  sketching  the  out- 
line, the  teacher  may  point  out  the  forest  and 
prairie  regions  of  Minnesota;  besides  the  pineries 
already  noticed,  the  "big  woods,"  then  the  courses 
of  the  Red  River  and  Rainy  Lake  River,  with 
such  a  description  as  is  easily  obtained  from 
Niles. 

St.  Paul  is  really  the  head  of  navigation,  but  ex- 
cursion steamers  go  up  the  river  four  or  five  miles 
to  Port  Snelling  and  Minnehaha  Palls.  Both  are 
on  the  west  side  of  the  Mississippi,  the  fort  on  a 
steep  white  bluff  nearly  a  hundred  feet  high  at  the 
angle  where  the  Minnesota  from  the  southwest 
joins  the  Mississippi.  This  old  fort,  with  its  white 
walls  and  rock,  the  old  meeting  place  of  Indians, 
soldiers,  and  traders,  is  one  of  the  most  pictur- 
esque and  historically  interesting  places  in  Min- 
nesota. A  high  bridge  crosses  the  river  from  the 
bluff  at  the  back  of  the  fort  to  the  bluff  west  of 
St.  Paul  so  that  the  old  fortress  is  easily  supplied 
with  needed  materials  and  provisions.    Some  two 


94  Special  Method. 

miles  farther  up  the  Mississippi  is  the  entrance 
to  the  valley  and  Falls  of  Minnehaha.  It  is  a 
deep,  narrow  canon  a  mile  long"  and  filled  with 
trees  and  shrubbery.  At  the  upper  end  of  the  val- 
ley,  Minnehaha  Falls  tumbles  over  the  semicircu- 
lar rocks  into  the  gorge  and  the  water  winds  its 
way  through  the  narrow  valley  to  join  the  Missis- 
sippi. Grounds  have  been  laid  out  for  a  park  along 
the  bluffs  above  and  a  street  car  runs  hourly  to 
Minneapolis.  For  five  or  six  miles  below  the  falls 
at  Minneapolis  the  Mississippi  River  flows  through 
a  narrow  canon  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  feet 
deep.  Just  above  the  falls  the  river  bank  is  only 
twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high.  The  falls  have  been 
slowly  receding  toward  the  north  as  the  waters  in 
tumbling  over  the  ledge  have  worn  and  crumbled 
the  rocks,  and  the  deep,  narrow  canon  below  is 
the  product  of  the  action  of  the  falls.  But  by 
boarding  up  the  falls  with  a  framework  of  timbers 
and  forming  great  chutes  down  which  the  water 
glides,  the  action  of  the  water  upon  the  rocks  has 
been  checked  and  the  scenery  destroyed.  Bridges 
cross  the  river  both  below  and  above  the  falls. 
Those  which  cross  below  must  span  the  canon 
and  are  therefore  much  higher  above  the  water. 
Just  below  the  falls  and  on  the  east  side  are  the 
extensive  grounds  and  buildings  of  the  University 
of  Minnesota.  They  stand  upon  the  bluff  a  hun- 
dred or  more  feet  above  the  level  of  the  river. 
Just   above  the   falls   are  the   extensive   lumber 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  95 

yards  of  a  half  dozen  great  sawmills.  A  long- is- 
land divides  the  river  just  above  the  falls  and  both 
the  currents  above  the  bridges  are  almost  filled 
with  acres  and  acres  of  floating  logs.  This  is  the 
greatest  center  for  the  lumber  trade  of  the  North- 
west. In  the  time  of  spring  floods  the  river  still 
makes  a  majestic  appearance  at  the  falls  as  it  de- 
scends with  a  mighty  rush  the  forty  feet  to  the 
waters  of  the  canon  below.  Even  in  summer  time 
when  the  water  is  low  it  is  interesting  to  stand 
on  one  of  the  high  bridges  below  and  watch  the 
stra}T  logs  come  tumbling  over  the  falls.  One  can 
observe,  too,  that  the  greater  part  of  the  current 
does  not  pass  over  the  falls  at  all,  but  emerges  in 
a  great  stream  from  the  foot  of  the  mills  after 
passing  through  the  large  turbine  wheels  that 
move  all  the  machinery  of  the  greatest  flour  mills 
in  the  world. 

There  is  much  navigable  water  above  the  falls, 
and  in  spring  time  especially  the  rafting  steamers 
are  busy  bringing  down  the  log  rafts  to  the  mills. 
But  there  are  several  falls  and  rapids  in  the  upj^er 
stream  that  furnish  excellent  water  power  as  yet 
not  much  used,  but  hindering  navigation.  Navi- 
gation on  the  upper  stream  is  also  hindered  by 
snags  and  obstructions,  but  these  must  be  removed 
in  spring  time  so  as  to  free  the  river  for  rafts  and 
steamers.  The  upper  part  of  the  river  from  a  line 
sixty  miles  north  of  St.  Paul  is  in  the  region  of 
pineries,  from  which  the  pine  logs  come.     This 


96  Special  Method. 

is  also  the  region  of  numberless  lakes  where  hunt- 
ing- and  fishing  are  still  in  their  prime.  Minnesota 
is  said  to  have  ten  thousand  lakes,  and  those  most 
attractive  for  hunting  and  fishing  and  for  solitude 
are  on  the  high  plateau  where  the  Mississippi 
takes  its  rise.  There  the  great  woods  are  soli- 
tudes, the  lakes  and  rivers  are  clear  and  fresh, 
and  the  fish  and  fowl  abundant.  The  great  river 
itself,  in  its  early  upper  course,  passes  through  a 
number  of  smaller  and  larger  lakes  as  it  makes 
the  great  bend  to  the  east  and  south.  It  passes 
over  many  rapids  and  falls  as  it  descends  from 
the  uplands,  and  steadily  grows  as  new  streams 
from  the  woods  and  lakes  enter  it  from  either  side. 
In  winter  time  this  is  a  very  cold  country  of  deep 
snows  and  snow  shoes,  and  a  quiet  but  steady 
freezing  atmosphere.  But  in  summer  it  is  the 
chosen  land  of  the  hunter  and  boatman. 

The  head  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  of  its 
tributary  streams,  with  their  lakes  and  forests, 
have  become  an  object  of  great  interest  to  the  peo- 
ple dwelling  along  the  banks  of  the  river  through- 
out its  whole  course,  even  to  New  Orleans  and  the 
delta.  The  woods,  lakes,  and  streams  of  the  up- 
per Mississippi  in  Minnesota  and  other  states  are 
the  great  reservoir  from  which  the  floods  come 
down  to  break  the  levees  and  flood  the  lowlands 
of  Mississippi  and  Louisiana.  Of  course  the  sources 
of  the  Ohio  and  Missouri  are  equally  responsible. 
Now,  if  these  floods  of  water  in  spring  time  can 


Geoyraphy  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  97 

be  checked  and  held  back,  in  part  at  least,  it  will 
help  to  save   the   lower  river  from  destructive 
floods.    But  in  summer  time  the  upper  river,  from 
Rock  Island  to  St.  Paul,  is  often  too  shallow  for 
the  regular  steamers.    If  these  waters,  which  have 
been  held  back  in  spring-  time  can  be  let  go  to 
deepen  the  river  in  the  drouth  of  summer,  it  will 
greatly  aid  the  navigation  of  the  upper  stream. 
The  government,  therefore,  has  been  at  work  for 
some  years  constructing  and  arranging  for  great 
reservoirs  in  the  up]3er  sources  of  the  Mississippi, 
by  which  the  spring  waters  may  be  held   back. 
Still  another  advantage  of  such  reservoirs  would 
be  that  it  would  make  the  season  of  floating  logs 
down  the  riyer  longer  and  also  supply  the  great 
mills  at  Minneapolis  and  elsewhere  a  larger  water 
power  in  the  summer  time  when  it  is  needed.     It 
is  apparent,  therefore,  that  all  parts  of  the  great 
river  stand  in  close  dependence  upon  each  other. 
The  great  forests  in  the  north  are  very  important 
as  a  means  of  water  preservation  and  must  be  pro- 
'  tected  for  their  great  public  value.    In  winter  time 
the  northern  part  of  the  valley  is  a  reservoir  from 
which  to  cut  and  ship  vast  quantities  of  ice  to  the 
south,  while  the  other  products  of  the  north  and 
south  are  exchanged  by  boat. 

The  purpose  of  such  an  excursion  as  this  is  to 
bring  together  into  one  connected  series  the  idea 
of  a  river  valley  with  all  its  living  pictures  and 
associated   thoughts.     The  narrow,  winding  val- 


98  Special  Method. 

ley,  the  panoramic  views  of  bluffs,  lake,  and 
broad  bottom  lands,  forests,  villages,  cities,  in- 
dustries, tributary  streams,  bridges,  railroads, 
rafts,  steamboats,  and  river  commerce.  All  this 
is  to  become  vivid  and  clear,  and  a  good  type  of 
a  great  river  valley  upon  dozens  of  streams  the 
world  over.  The  more  good  pictures  and  illus- 
trations of  these  and  of  similar  scenes  on  the 
Mississippi,  the  more  vivid  descriptions  based  on 
experience  and  reading,  the  better.  One  complete 
and  detailed  account  of  a  river  trip  like  this  is 
more  productive  of  knowledge  and  insight  and 
more  helpful  to  future  geography  study  than  a 
dozen  superficially  studied.  What  is  true  of  the 
Mississippi  will  be  found  in  the  main  to  be  true 
of  the  Hudson,  of  the  Rhine,  and  of  the  Danube, 
and  it  will  be  ten-fold  easier  to  understand  one  of 
these  distant  rivers  and  the  country  through 
which  it  flows  if  we  first  form  a  concrete  and  de- 
tailed picture  of  one  of  our  own  great  streams. 

Just  as  we  have  already  dealt  with  the  lum- 
bering business  in  detail  and  with  the  upper 
Mississippi,  we  are  ready  now  to  do  the  same 
for  the  wheat  and  flour  mills.  We  desire  an 
exhaustive  account  of  the  work  on  a  wheat 
farm,  the  plowing,  sowing,  harvesting,  threshing, 
granaries,  and  marketing  of  the  grain,  the  scenes 
from  a  great  wheat  field,  a  characteristic  thing 
for  Minnesota,  small  machinery  used — plows, 
drills,  self-binders,  threshing  machines.     How  the 


Geography  for  tlie  Fourth  Grade.  99 

wheat  is  brought  to  the  stations  and  elevators, 
then  carried  by  the  chief  railroad  lines  to  Minne- 
apolis and  other  river  cities,  to  the  big  mills.  At 
length  we  are  prepared  for  such  a  description  of 
the  Minneapolis  mills  as  is  found  in  Niles'  Geog- 
raphy. What  is  done  with  such  quantities  of 
flour  after  it  is  made  in  Minneapolis  and  Winona 
and  other  cities?  Where  do  the  hungry  people 
live  who  want  all  this  flour  for  bread  ?  Have  they 
anything  to  send  us  in  return? 

Hard  Wood  Forests  op  Indiana  and  the  Ohio 

Valley. 

Contrast  the  appearance  of  the  Ohio  Valley 
now  and  two  hundred  years  ago. 

Indiana  is  much  of  it  to-day  a  well-wooded 
country.  There  are  large  forests  of  oak,  hickory, 
maple,  beech,  poplar,  walnut,  sycamore,  and 
other  hard  wood  trees.  The  southern  half  of  In- 
diana still  contains  extensive  forests,  while  the 
northern  quarter  has  level  prairies  and  swamps. 
As  one  rides  on  the  railroads  through  Indiana,  he 
will  see  large  piles  of  saw  logs  near  the  saw 
mills  at  the  towns  and  cities.  These  are  being 
worked  up  by  the  saw  into  useful  lumber.  If  one 
travels  out  into  the  country  he  will  find  in  the 
wroods  saw  mills,  run  by  water  or  steam  power. 
Many  of  the  fields  are  still  sprinkled  with 
stumps,  and  in  some  places  we  see  the  dead  trees 
standing  which  have  been  girdled  the  last  season. 


100  Special  Method. 

After  the  trees  die  they  are  cut  down:  those  good 
for  lumber  or  wood  are  cut  up  and  hauled  away, 
while  the  brush  and  other  tree  trunks  are  burned 
up.  These  smouldering-  fires  are  often  seen  by 
the  traveler  passing"  through  Indiana.  During- 
the  last  eighty  years  the  great  forests  that  cov- 
ered the  hills  and  plains  and  valleys  of  Indiana 
have  been  largely  cut  away,  the  stumps  have 
rotted  in  the  ground  or  were  pulled  up  and 
burned.  There  are,  therefore,  many  large  open 
fields  and  districts  of  country  where  meadows  of 
grass  or  fields  of  corn,  wheat,  oats,  potatoes,  and 
other  grains  or  vegetables  are  seen.  Indiana  has 
thus  grown  to  be  a  very  rich  agricultural  state, 
with  many  cities,  towns,  and  railroads.  When  the 
white  men  first  began  to  settle  Indiana  and  make 
homes  in  the  wilderness,  it  was  totally  different 
from  what  is  seen  today.  The  great  woods,  with 
their  towering-  trees,  covered  nearly  the  whole 
.land.  Very  old  men  now  living-  can  remember 
when  Indiana  was  one  large  forest  with  no  rail- 
roads and  very  few  wagon  roads. 

The  early  settlers  in  Indiana  were  the  French  at 
Vincennes  and  along  the  Wabash  River.  They  were 
a  joyous,  happy  people,  who  were  very  friendly 
with  the  Indians  and  were  good  wood-rangers  and 
trappers.  They  hunted  deer  and  buffalo,  wild  tur- 
key and  squirrels  and  other  wild  animals  for  their 
pelts.  When  they  traveled  it  was  either  on  foot 
as  hunters,  or  in  boats  up  and  down  the  rivers. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  101 

At  the  close  of  the  French  and  Indian  wars 
the  Yankees  and  other  English  speaking*  -whites 
began  to  cross  the  Alleghany  Mountains  into  tne 
Ohio  valley.  From  Pittsburgh  they  came  down 
the  Ohio  River  in  flatboats  and  canoes  and  landed 
near  the  river  in  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Indiana. 
The  very  first  thing  (as  at  Cincinnati)  was  to  clear 
away  the  brush  and  trees  of  the  forest,  making 
room  for  houses  and  forts  and  gardens.  As  one 
rides  in  a  steamboat  along  the  Ohio  River  to-day, 
few  of  these  old  forests  are  seen  left  standing, 
They  have  been  cut  away  from  the  bottom  lands 
and  the  level  upper  bottoms,  and  only  along  the 
steeper  hillsides  and  bluffs  are  many  trees  seen. 
As  the  early  emigrants  landed  on  the  north  bank 
of  the  Ohio  in  Indiana  they  had  to  make  their  way 
through  the  woods,  up  the  ravines  to  the  better 
lands  back  from  the  river  (as  in  Lincoln's  early 
boyhood).  There  were  no  roads  for  wagons,  and 
when  a  good  spot  was  found  for  building,  trees 
were  felled,  a  clearing  made,  and  the  rough  tree 
trunks  were  squared  down  with  a  broad  ax  and  a 
log-house  commenced.  The  ends  were  notched 
and  the  logs  jointed  together  at  the  corners.  The 
pioneer  was  his  own  carpenter.  He  had  saw  and 
axe,  plane  and  auger,  and  other  tools,  and  was 
strong  and  skillful  in  their  use.  The  log  hut 
often  had  but  one  room,  with  a  loft  reached  by  a 
ladder  or  by  pins  driven  into  the  logs,  and  it  was 
used  by  the  older  children  as  a  sleeping  room. 


1G2  Special  Metiwd, 

The  early  settlers  in  Indiana  lived  partly  by 
hunting-  and  partly  by  raising-  crops  on  the  clear- 
ings. Before  crops  could  be  raised,  the  trees  had 
to  be  cut  down  and  burned  up,  a  very  heavy 
labor,  and  when  the  stumpy  field  was  ready  it 
was  ploughed  and  jjut  in  corn  or  wheat,  melons 
or  vegetables. 

At  first  there  wTere  no  public  surveys,  and  the 
settler  selected  a  spot  to  suit  himself.  "Deaden- 
ing a  patch  of  woods  near  the  head  of  a  spring, 
cutting  the  initials  of  the  claimant's  name  on  the 
corner  trees,  and  throwing  up  any  sort  of  a  hut 
constituted  an  improvement!  Division  lines  were 
chiefly  on  the  water  courses,  or  on  the  top  of  the 
ridges.  The  earliest  farms,  therefore,  resembled 
an  amphitheater.  The  cabin  wTas  always  on  the 
lower  ground,  which  pleased  the  squatter  because 
of  its  convenience;  everything  came  to  the  house 
down  hill." — (American  Commonwealth,  Ohio,  p. 
191.)  Afterwards  when  the  land  was  laid  out  by 
public  surveys,  these  old  farm  houses  were  found 
to  be  far  from  the  roads.  Later  people  began 
also  to  build  on  the  higher  lands,  but  for  many 
years  the  old  settlers  believed  there  was  less  ague 
in  the  lowlands. 

"The  millions  who  are  dwelling  in  peace  and 
plenty  in  the  broad  farms  and  busy  towns  of  Ohio 
and  Indiana  to-day  can  get  no  realizing  sense 
from  mere  words  of  the  hardships  by  which  their 
nrosperity  was  earned.     The  toilsome  journey  of 


(jinijiKph)/  for  (he  Fourth  Grail.  103 

the  pioneers,  the  steep  mountain  ways,  the  camp 
ing  out,  where  there  were  no  inns  and  hardly  a 
road  to  guide  them,  were  as  nothing'  to  the  dreari- 
ness which,  at  the  journey's  end  confronted  the 
immigrant  and  his  devoted  wife  and  tender  chil- 
dren. The  unbroken  forest  was  all  that  wel- 
comed them,  and  the  awful  stillness  of  the  night 
had  no  refrain  but  the  howl  of  the  wolf  or  wailing 
of  the  whip-poor-will.  The  nearest  neighbor 
often  was  miles  away. 

"Their  first  necessity  was  to  girdle  the  trees 
and  grub  a  few  acres  for  corn  and  truck  patch, 
sufficient  for  the  season.  As  soon  as  the  logs 
were  cut  a  cabin  was  built  with  the  aid  of  neigh- 
bors. Necessity  invented  the  house-raising,  as  it 
did  the  log-rolling  and  corn-shucking"  When 
the  logs  and  timbers  for  the  framework  of  the 
house  were  ready  the  neighbors  were  called  in, 
and  the  heavy  structure  was  lifted  into  place 
by  the  united  strength  of  the  men.  When  the 
work  was  done  a  feast  and  jollification  fol- 
lowed. Neighbors  were  accustomed  to  help  each 
other  often  in  such  ways,  and  to  join  in  the  corn- 
huskings,  bear  hunts,  log  rollings,  and  weddings, 
the  latter  lasting  usually  three  days. 

"The  log  house  with  its  clapboard  roof,  single 
room  and  door,  if  any,  swinging  upon  wooden 
hinges,  witli  no  window  but  a  patch  of  greased 
newspaper  between  the  logs,  and  no  floor  but  the 
ground,    was  often   finished  at   nightfall    on  the 


104  Special  Method. 

spot  where  the  trees  had  stood  in  the  morning-. 
The  daubing  of  the  chinks  and  wooden  chimney 
with  clay  and  a  few  peg's  in  the  interior  for  house- 
wife's use  were  all  that  this  simple  cabin  in  those 
days  could  afford." 

"But  food  rather  than  shelter  was  the  severest 
want  of  the  pioneers.  True  the  woods  were  full 
of  game,  but  venison,  turkey  and  bear  meat  all 
the  time  became  tiresome  enough.  There  was  no 
bread  nor  salt.  The  scanty  salt  springs  (salt 
licks)  were  precious.  The  Indian  corn,  when  once 
started,  was  the  chief  reliance  for  man  and  beast. 
This  crop,  converted  also  into  bacon,  pork,  and 
whiskey  soon  became  the  staple  of  the  country. 
The  lack  of  mills  was  at  first  deeply  felt.  Corn 
was  parched  and  ground  by  hand  or  by  horse 
power." 

"The  furniture  of  the  cabins  and  dress  of  the 
people  were  very  simple.  Good  tables,  cupboards 
and  benches  were  made  of  poplar  and  beech  woods. 
The  buckeye  furnished  bowls  and  platters  and 
split-bottom  chairs.  Bearskins  were  bed  and  bed- 
ding. The  deer  skin,  dressed  and  undressed,  was 
much  used  for  clothing,  and  the  skins  of  the  rac- 
coon and  rabbit  were  a  favorite  headgear.  But 
wool  and  flax  soon  abounded  and  spinning  wheels 
and  looms  became  standard  articles  in  every  house. 
The  hulls  of  walnuts  and  butternuts  were  used  for 
dyeing,  also  a  root  of  bright  yellow,  and  later  in- 
digo and  madder  for  the  hunting  shirt  and  warmus. 


Geography  for  tlic  Fourth  Grade.  ]00 

These  primitive  fashions  yielded  as  store  goods, 
together  with  iron  and  Onondaga  salt  began  to  be 
introduced  by  the  great  Pennsylvania  wagons 
from  Pittsburg  and  the  ports  along  the  Ohio. 
Goods  were  also  brought  up  the  river  from  New 
Orleans  in  keel  boats. " 

"The  pioneers  had  pastimes  and  festivities 
also  in  their  own  way.  Besides  others,  there 
were  the  sugar  camp,  the  militia  musters,  the 
bear  hunts,  the  shooting  matches,  and  the  races. 
At  these  the  neighborhood  for  miles  around  was 
wont  to  gather.  The  quilting  party  was  a  joy  in 
feminine  circles.  The  camp-meetings  were  an- 
other early  custom,  and  used  to  supply  the  place 
of  Sunday  worship." 

Traveling  was  at  first  mainly  on  foot  and  on 
horseback.  There  were  few  wagon  roads,  and 
those  very  rough  and  in  many  places  miry  and 
bad  even  in  good  weather.  The  great  forests  kept 
the  soil  moist  so  that  the  roads  could  not  dry  out. 
It  was  very  difficult  for  some  years  to  get  the  sur- 
plus grain  and  meat  to  market.  In  the  spring,  at 
the  time  of  floods,  fiatboats  would  be  loaded  with 
meat  or  grain  and  sent  down  the  smaller  streams 
to  the  Ohio,  and  thence  to  New  Orleans.  When  a 
few  roads  had  been  built,  the  farmers  would  haul 
their  meat  and  grain  many  miles  to  Cincinnati  or 
other  river  towns,  and  purchase  goods  with  the 
money  gained  from  their  produce. 

The  early  settlers  in  Indiana,  Ohio,  and  111 i- 


106  Special  Method. 

nois,  needed  a  better  connection  with  the  eastern 
states  from  which  they  came.  As  early  as  1808 
they  secured  aid  from  congress  in  building-  a  road 
from  the  tide  water  east  of  the  Alleghanies  to 
the  Ohio  river.  This  old  national  road  crossed 
the  Ohio  river  at  Wheeling-  and  ran  across  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois,  passing-  throug-h  Columbus, 
Indianapolis,  and  Terre  Haute  to  St.  Louis.  As 
soon  as  it  was  built  emigrants  from  the  east  came 
by  wagons  with  all  their  g-oods  to  settle  in  these 
states,  and  g-oods  were  sent  in  great  wag-on  loads 
to  the  east.  As  the  country  was  settled  up  roads 
were  opened  through/the  forest  in  all  directions, 
the  swampy  lands  were  crossed  by  means  of  cor- 
duroy roads,  consisting  of  logs  and  boards  laid 
crosswise  of  the  wagon  path  in  swampy  places. 
It  caused  very  rough  riding,  but  was  better  than 
miring  in  the  mud. 

The  earty  pioneers  in  the  great  forests  of  In- 
diana had  another  enemy  in  the  shape  of  fever 
and  ague  and  other  diseases  of  a  wet,  malarial 
country.  Much  of  the  land  was  swampy  and  cov 
ered  more  or  less  with  stagnant  water,  which  the 
forests  prevented  from  evaporating.  Oftentimes 
no  physicians  were  to  be  had,  as  the  settlers  were 
widely  scattered;  there  were  few  towns,  and  med- 
icine was  hard  to  get.  The  milk  sickness,  sup- 
posed to  have  been  caused  from  drinking  the  milk 
of  cows  that  had  fed  on  some  poisonous  plant,  was 
a  great  plague.     Fevers,  agues,  and  bilious  com 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  1U7 

plaints  were  very  common  and  the  settlers  used 
quantities  of  quinine  as  the  great  remedy.  As 
the  forests  have  been  cut  away  and  the  wet  and 
swampy  places  drained  out,  the  country  has  be- 
come much  more  healthful. 

In  order  to  secure  a  better  outlet  for  trade 
great  canals  were  dug  connecting  Lake  Erie  on 
the  north  with  the  Wabash  and  Ohio  on  the  south. 
The  farmers  living  near  the  canal  could  ship  their 
grain  and  meat  much  cheaper  to  Buffalo  or  Cin- 
cinnati or  New  Orleans,  and  new  settlers  could 
bring  their  goods  by  canal. 

In  Ohio,  also,  canals  were  built  connecting 
Lake  Erie  with  the  Ohio,  using  the  Maumee,  the 
Scioto  and  Muskingum  rivers.  Beginning  in 
1826,  658  miles  of  canal  were  built  in  Ohio,  at  a 
cost  of  $14,688,000.00,  besides  improvements  in 
the  river  channels  by  means  of  dams,  feeders, 
etc.  Large  towns  grew  up  along  the  line  of  these 
canals,  and  the  whole  country  settled  up  rapidly. 

The  wagon  roads  were  constantly  improved. 
Gravel  roads  and  turnpikes  began  to  be  built 
more  than  fifty  years  ago.  If  we  visit  the  county 
towns  (county  seats)  in  Indiana  to-day,  we  shall  find 
a  set  of  well  graveled  roads,  smooth  and  solid  even 
in  muddy  and  wet  weather,  reaching  out  into  the 
country  and  enabling  the  farmers  at  all  seasons 
to  haul  heavy  loads  to  the  markets  or  to  use  their 
carriages  in  travel.  These  graveled  roads  have 
been  a  great  expense  to  the  farmers  and  towns- 


108  Special  Method. 

people,  but  they  are  of  great  value  for  trade  and 
travel. 

Between  1830  and  1840  railroads  began  to  be 
built  in  Indiana  and  Ohio,  especially  those  run- 
ning east  and  west,  connecting  eastern  states 
with  the  western.  When  Indianapolis  was  first 
laid  out  in  the  center  of  Indiana  it  was  in  the 
midst  of  the  forest.  The  White  River,  near 
which  it  stood,  was  not  large  enough  for  naviga- 
tion, and  roads  had  to  be  built  to  connect  the 
city  with  Cincinnati  and  other  cities.  When  the 
railroads  were  built  Indianapolis  became  a  very 
important  center  for  the  trade  of  the  whole  state. 
All  the  railroads  from  different  directions  meet 
in  one  great  depot,  which  has  come  to  be  one  of 
the  greatest  railroad  centers  in  the  world. 

The  forests  of  Indiana  have  always  been  of 
great  value  to  the  state.  In  the  early  settlement 
they  furnished  building  materials  for  houses, 
barns,  bridges,  roads,  fences,  and  for  furniture, 
wagons,  etc.  Later  the  forests  have  been  cut 
down  for  lumber  such  as  poplar,  hickory,  oak, 
walnut,  maple,  beech,  and  sycamore.  The  for- 
ests of  Indiana  still  furnish  a  large  amount  of 
hard  wood  lumber  for  the  great  factories  and  car 
works  in  Chicago,  Indianapolis,  and  other  cities. 
But  in  many  parts  of  the  state  the  finest  lumber 
trees  have  been  cut  down,  and  what  are  left  have 
an  increased  value.  The  black  walnut,  for  exam- 
ple, once  abounded  in  the  Indiana  forests,  but  most 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  109 

of  the  walnut  trees  have  been  cut  down  and  made 
into  lumber  for  sewing-  machines,  organs,  tables, 
desks,  and  other  furniture. 

Indiana  was  only  a  part  of  the  great  hard- 
wood forest  region  lying  on  the  western  slopes  of 
the  Alleghany  mountains  and  stretching  away 
hundreds  of  miles  to  the  prairies  of  Illinois  and 
Missouri.  The  early  settlers  who  first  crossed  the 
mountains  into  the  Ohio  valley,  and  then  floated 
for  hundreds  of  miles  down  that  stream,  must 
have  felt  that  the  forest  was  endless.  They  be- 
gan to  cut  down  and  clear  away  the  great  trees 
as  if  it  would  be  impossible  for  the,  supply  to  give 
out.  West  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Ken- 
tucky. Tennessee,  Indiana,  and  part  of  Illinois 
and  Missouri  were  covered  by  these  great  stretches 
of  forest.  All  the  country  drained  by  the  Ohio 
and  its  tributaries,  the  Muskingum,  Scioto,  Wa- 
bash, the  Kanawha,  Kentucky,  Cumberland,  and 
Tennessee,  the  Alleghany  and  Monongahela,  was 
an  almost  unknown  woodland.  In  those  early 
days  it  was  full  of  game  and  dangerous  because 
of  Indians.  Buffalo,  deer,  wild  turkey,  beaver, 
raccoon,  bear,  squirrel,  pigeons,  and  other  wild 
fowls  and  animals  were  abundant. 

At  Marietta,  the  first  large  settlement  in  Ohio, 
Mr.  King  says  (American  Commonwealth's  Ohio, 
p.  201):  "Whatever  their  privations  and  dangers 
tiie  adventurers  were  spared  any  fears  of  famine. 
Their  fields  and    gardens  were  not   only  fruitful 


110  Special  Method. 

beyond  their  utmost  expectation,  but  the  abund- 
ance of  fish,  flesh,  and  fowl  was  simply  prodigious. 
Buffalo,  deer,  and  bear,  seemed  to  wait  upon 
them.  Geese,  ducks,  and  pigeons  swarmed.  The 
fish  fairly  infested  the  rivers,  and  were  of  such 
superlative  size,  that  if  the  accounts  of  them  were 
not  proved  by  good  evidence,  they  might  be  set 
aside  as  fish  stories.  Col.  May  says  that  a  pike 
weighing  one  hundred  pounds  was  served  up  at  a 
fourth  of  July  barbacue,  and  catfish  of  sixty  and 
eighty  pounds  were  often  caught." 

But  the  appearance  of  this  heavily  forested 
region  has  changed  greatly  during  the  last  hundred 
years.  The  wild  game  is  mostly  gone.  The  forests 
themselves  have  largely  disappeared,  and  great 
fields  of  corn,  wheat,  oats,  meadow,  and  pasture 
lands  now  stretch  away  where  once  stood  mighty 
trees  so  thick  that  their  shade  darkened  the 
ground.  The  swamps  have  been  drained,  roads 
and  bridges  built,  "cities  and  towns  are  thick, 
and  the  railroads  extending  in  every  direction 
cover  the  land  with  what  appears  on  a  map  as  a 
net  work  of  lines  and  crossings.  Great  cities  like 
Indianapolis,  Columbus.  Cleveland,  Cincinnati, 
and  Louisville  have  become  the  homes  and  trad- 
ing places  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  people 
where  a  little  more  than  a  hundred  years  ago  there 
were  no  inhabitants  at  all,  only  forests  and  wild 
game  and  wilderness. 

In  our  day  the  serious  question  is  not  how  to 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  Ill 

get  rid  of  the  forests,  as  with  our  grandfathers 
sixty  years  ago,  but  how  to  save  them.  The 
forests  have  been  cut  down  too  much  not  only  de- 
stroying much  valuable  lumber,  but  changing  the 
climate  and  causing  the  rivers  to  flood  their  banks 
in  spring.  The  forests  no  longer  hold  the  water 
back  but  it  runs  off  too  quickly  in  the  spring 
time.  The  question  of  the  future  is  therefore 
largely  to  protect  the  forests,  to  plant  out  trees, 
and  to  provide  for  an  extension  of  the  forest  area. 

It  will  be  of  special  interest  to  compare  the 
forest  area  cf  the  pineries  of  the  northern  states 
with  the  hard-wood  forest  region  of  the  Ohio  val- 
ley. Which  has  the  greater  extent?  The  appear- 
ance of  the  forests  in  the  two  sections  is  very 
different.  After  the  pine  forests  are  cut  down  in 
the  north  a  sandy  somewhat  barren  soil  is  left, 
while  the  soil  of  the  hard-wood  region  is  strong 
and  fruitful.  A  comparison  of  the  hard- wood 
forests  with  the  prairie  region  of  Illinois,  Iowa, 
etc.,  will  also  be  of  interest.  The  black  soil  of 
the  prairies  is  contrasted  with  the  lighter  loam 
and  clay  of  the  forest  belt. 

References,  King's  History  of  Ohio,  American 
Commonwealth. 

Minneapolis. 

Why  has  Minneapolis  grown  in  a  few  years  to 
be  such  an  important  city?  It  is  but  ten  miles  from 
the  center  of  Minneapolis  to  the  center  of  St.  Paul 


112  Special  Method. 

and  the  city  of  St.  Paul  was  large  and  prosperous 
as  a  trading"  point  and  capital  long"  before  Minne- 
apolis was  thought  of.  In  1849  the  first  settler 
staked  off  his  claim  at  Minneapolis  near  the  falls. 
In  1890  the  city  had  164,700  people.  This  is  a  very 
marvelous  growth  and  must  be  based  upon  very 
important  and  far  reaching  facts.  St.  Paul,  for 
many  years  in  its  early  history,  was  a  place  for 
the  white  settlers  and  traders  to  meet  the  Indians. 
Before  the  war  the  agriculture  of  Minnesota  was 
not  much  developed,  and  the  lumber  business  also 
was  scarcely  begun.  But  when  railroads  began 
to  reach  out  to  the  prairie  regions  west  of  Minne- 
apolis and  St.  Paul  and  as  great  numbers  of  set- 
tlers came  in  from  the  eastern  states  and  the 
Scandinavians  and  Germans  from  Europe,  Minne- 
apolis began  to  grow. 

The  falls  at  St.  Anthony  were  long  noted  for 
their  beauty  and  grandeur  before  cities  grew  up 
beside  them.  Of  course  the  water  power  was 
looked  upon  as  of  great  value  and  when  the  pine 
logs  began  to  be  cut  out  of  the  northern  forests 
and  floated  down  the  upper  river,  it  was  found 
that  these  falls  were  the  best  location  for  mills  to 
saw  up  the  logs.  At  first  the  water  power  was 
chiefly  used  by  the  sawmills,  and  as  the  prairie 
regions  to  the  west  settled  up  there  was  more  de- 
mand for  lumber  for  building  purposes.  In  order 
to  distribute  this  lumber  and  other  products  of 
the  prairie  country  to  the  west  railroads  were 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  113 

built  branching  out  from  Minneapolis.  As  this 
business  of  logging-  and  lumbering  grew,  the  whole 
Upper  Mississippi  with  its  tributaries  became  a 
network  of  rivers  and  logging  camps  for  collect- 
ing logs  to  the  mills  at  Minneapolis  and  other  mill 
towns  on  the  river.  The  large  lumber  firms  had 
big  sawmills  at  Minneapolis  and  thousands  of  acres 
of  timber  lands  in  the  woods  to  the  north,  with  their 
lumber  camps  in  winter  and  their  rafting  steamers 
for  guiding  the  log  rafts  south  at  the  time  of  the 
spring  floods.  Many  of  the  wealthiest  men  and 
companies  of  Minneapolis  and  other  river  cities 
have  acquired  their  fortunes  in  this  business  and 
have  built  them  splendid  homes  in  St.  Paul  and 
Minneapolis.  Closely  connected  with  the  saw- 
mills are  the  planing  mills  for  preparing  dressed 
lumber,  doors,  sashes,  and  interior  finish.  Large 
factories  were  also  established  for  the  manufac- 
ture of  furniture,  agricultural  implements,  wag- 
ons and  carriages,  cooperage,  and  other  kinds  of 
woodwork.  All  these  lumber  products  were  then 
shipped  westward  over  the  scattering  railroad 
lines  into  western  Minnesota,  the  Dakotas,  Iowa, 
and  Nebraska.  This  rapidly  growing  prairie  re- 
gion, extending  even  to  the  Rocky  Mountains  and 
from  Missouri  to  British  America,  demanded  a 
vast  amount  of  lumber  for  its  rapidly  developing 
cities  and  farms.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that 
Minneapolis,  because  of  its  position  on  the  river, 
water  power,  and  mills,  should  soon  be  the  great 


114  Special  Method. 

center  of  the  lumber  business  of  the  Northwest. 
It  collected  log's  from  a  large  forest  area  on  the 
upper  Mississippi,  worked  over  this  raw  material 
in  the  sawmills,  planing  mills,  and  furniture  and 
other  factories,  and,  by  means  of  the  many  rail- 
road lines  spreading  out  westward,  distributed 
this  vast  product  over  a  very  extensive  region  of 
prairie  country.  It  is  also  clear  that  this  impor- 
tant lumbering  industry  led  thousands  of  people 
to  find  homes  in  Minneapolis  and  build  up  the 
city. 

As  western  Minnesota  was  rapidly  settled  up 
with  industrious  farmers,  who  raised  great  fields 
of  wheat,  oats,  barley,  corn,  and  other  grains,  be- 
sides thousands  of  cattle  and  hogs,  they  naturally 
shipped  their  grain  and  other  produce  over  the 
railroads  to  Minneapolis.  It  was  not  long  before 
the  rich  soil  of  the  western  prairies  and  river  val- 
leys was  found  to  be  one  of  the  best  and  largest 
wheat  regions  of  the  world.  Not  only  are  the 
rich  upland  prairies  of  southern  and  western  Min- 
nesota very  fruitful  in  grain,  where  thousands  and 
even  millions  of  acres  are  yellow  with  waving 
grain  in  July,  but  the  Red  River  Valley  of  the 
North  is  extremely  fertile  and  favorable  to  wheat. 
"Close  to  the  doors  of  the  Twin  Cities  lies  this 
Red  River  Valley,  considered  by  some  the  third 
richest  agricultural  region  in  the  world.  It  takes 
in  many  counties  of  western  Minnesota  and  the 
eastern  counties  of  the  Dakotas.     It  reaches  up 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  (Trade.  115 

into  Canada  bej'ond  Winnipeg',  and  its  southern 
end  is  the  richer.  It  is  a  level  prairie  land  of 
black  soil,  that  once  formed  the  bed  or  deposit  of 
an  ancient  sea.  This  region  pours  its  wealth  of 
grain  into  the  two  cities,  there  to  exchange  it  for 
merchandise.  The  farmers  sometimes  have  raised 
enough  grain  in  one  year  to  pay  for  their  farms. 
One  farmer  made  $30,000  in  one  season." 

There  are  8,832,000  acre's  in  the  valley,  and  in 
1891  only  about  one-third  was  under  cultivation, 
not  all  in  wheat,  but  30,000,000  bushels  of  wheat 
were  grown,  worth  about  $27,000,000.  Most  of 
the  wheat  of  the  northwest  finds  its  way  to  Min- 
neapolis, where  the  big  mills  convert  it  into  flour. 
"In  1871  only  two  carloads  of  wheat  were  received 
in  Minneapolis.  In  1887  the  Great  Western  Rail- 
road brought  thirty-three  million  bushels  to  the 
flour  mills.  It  is  thought  that  the  summit  of  fifty 
millions  of  bushels  will  be  reached  in  the  twelve 
months  of  last  year  (1891).  Of  course  a  large 
part  of  this  wheat  is  ground  up  into  flour,  put  in 
sacks  or  barrels,  and  shipped  eastward  by  way  of 
Duluth  and  the  lakes,  or  by  way  of  Chicago,  to 
New  York  and  eastern  states.  A  very  large  part 
of  the  flour  made  in  Minneapolis  is  sent  in  ship- 
loads to  Liverpool  or  Hamburg,  in  Europe.  The 
great  railroad  lines  from  the  Twin  Cities  to  Du- 
luth and  Chicago  send  long  train  loads  to  the  east 
and  to  Europe,  where  millions  of  people  make 
bread  from  Minneapolis  flour. 


116  Special  Method. 

It  is  found,  therefore,  that  Minneapolis  is  the 
great  center  of  trade  and  manufacture  in  a  second 
important  staple  product,  wheat:  that  it  collects 
this  product  from  a  broad  area  by  means  of  rail- 
roads, manufactures  it  in  the  big  flour  mills,  and 
then  distributes  it  over  the  eastern  states  by- 
means  of  railroads  and  water-ways,  and  even 
sends  millions  of  dollars  worth  of  food  to  Eng- 
land, Germany,  and  other  European  countries. 
This  vast  business  of  wheat  and  flour  milling  also 
collects  thousands  of  people  in  Minneapolis  who 
build  homes  there,  and  many  of  the  wealthy  men 
of  the  northwest  have  based  their  fortunes  upon 
this  great  business. 

There  is  still  a  third  line  of  business  in  Min- 
neapolis that  is  as  important  as  the  two  already 
described.  Manufactured  goods  of  all  kinds,  as 
dry  goods,  machinery,  clothing,  instruments, 
tools,  paper  and  books,  medicines,  fruits  and  gro- 
ceries, china  and  porcelain,  hardware,  farm  im- 
plements, cutlery,  and  a  hundred  other  important 
manufactures  of  the  eastern  states  and  Europe 
are  shipped  to  the  great  trading  and  wholesale 
houses  of  Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  whence  they 
are  sent  out  over  the  railroads  and  distributed  to 
the  prairie  and  even  mountain  regions  to  the  west 
and  northwest.  This  immense  trade  centers  in 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul,  which  thus  makes  a 
great  depot  for  the  collection  and  distribution  of 
products.     The  handling,  sale,    and  shipment  of 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  117 

all  these  manufactured  goods  calls  another  large 
class  of  people  to  the  Twin  Cities,  and  gives  the 
great  railroad  lines  a  large  share  of  their  busi- 
ness. 

As  a  result  of  the  description  of  the  lines  of 
trade  and  commerce  centering  in  Minneapolis,  we 
are  able  to  see  partly  the  reason  for  its  very  rapid 
growth  and  its  great  importance.  It  is  easy  to  see 
that  Minneapolis  not  only  has  a  fine  location  on 
the  river,  which  naturally  makes  it  the  center  of 
the  lumber  trade,  and  a  vast  water  power  that 
makes  milling  cheap  and  profitable,  but  that  by 
means  of  the  river  and  the  railroads  it  is  brought 
into  the  closest  relations  with  the  extensive  pin- 
eries of  the  north,  the  fertile  prairies  and  river 
valleys  of  the  northwest,  and  with  the  great  cen- 
ters of  manufacturing  and  population  in  the  east. 
The  lake  ports,  Duluth  and  Chicago,  enable  it  to 
send  goods  with  small  expense  to  New  York  and 
Europe.  The  Mississippi  river  on  the  south  brings 
St.  Paul  in  close  communication  by  boat  and  cheap 
freight  with  the  whole  Mississippi  valley  from 
Louisiana  to  Pittsburg  and  Kansas  City  and  far- 
ther. In  early  days  this  connection  of  St.  Paul 
with  the  river  was  very  important,  as  nearly  all 
heavy  goods  reached  St.  Paul  by  boat,  but  since 
the  railroads  have  grown  so  important  the  river 
trade  has  grown  less. 

We  have  already  seen  that  Minneapolis  was  a 
natural  center  for  the  manufacture  of  lumber  and 


118  Special  Method. 

flour,  but  after  these  great  industries  were  well 
started,  many  other  large  manufacturing-  plants 
became  established,  such  as  boot  and  shoe  fac- 
tories, furniture  and  wagon  shops,  smelting- 
works,  packing  houses,  and  car  works  and  ma- 
chine shops,  as  well  as  many  smaller  manufac- 
turing industries.  The  result  is,  that  though  of 
so  short  a  growth,  Minneapolis  has  already  be- 
come a  center  for  very  large  manufacturing  in- 
terests, and  the  products  are  shipped  to  the  broad 
regions  of  the  west  that  Minneapolis  supplies. 
These  industries  also  have  contributed  to  the 
rapid  growth  and  wealth  of  the  city.  It  should 
be  remembered  also  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
settlers,  seeking  farms  and  homes,  have  come 
from  New  England  and  the  northern  states  as  well 
as  from  England  and  Scandinavia  to  develop  the 
country  and  increase  its  population  and  wealth. 

Besides  all  these  wide-reaching  influences,  the 
city  has  a  beautiful  and  elevated  location  above 
the  river,  with  the  best  of  drainage,  with  a  natu- 
ral forest  that  still  shades  much  of  the  city,  and 
half  a  dozen  beautiful  lakes  and  fine  parks  within 
the  city  limits  or  near  them.  The  streets  of  the 
city  have  been  laid  out  on  a  broad,  liberal  plan, 
and  the  street-car  service  is  excellent.  Many  very 
fine  public  buildings  and  business  blocks  adorn  the 
principal  streets.  The  public  library  with  40,000 
volumes  is  an  elegant  and  imposing  structure. 
The   Guaranty   Loan   building,    fourteen   stories 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  119 

high,  is  one  of  the  finest  building's  in  America.  The 
State  University,  on  the  east  bank  of  the  river, 
and  other  public  institutions  are  on  the  same  grand 
scale.  It  is  a  very  healthy  city  and  is  especially 
noted  for  its  great  number  of  pleasant  homes. 

The  city  of  St.  Paul,  only  ten  miles  away,  is 
not  excelled  b}^  Minneapolis  in  progressive  spirit 
and  enterprise .  It  is  especially  the  center  of  the 
wholesale  trade  of  the  Northwest  and  has  excelled 
Minneapolis  in  the  extent  and  variety  of  manufac- 
tures. Some  of  its  streets  of  elegant  residences 
along  the  bluff  are  among  the  finest  in  America. 
Its  business  streets  near  the  river  are  somewhat 
narrow  and  cramped,  but  farther  up  along  the 
bluffs  the  city  is  laid  out  on  a  generous  plan. 

It  has  been  thought  that  these  two  cities  would 
some  day  join  their  forces  and  make  one  great 
city.  Already  their  suburbs  touch  each  other, 
but  the  rivalry  between  them  is  very  lively 
and  sometimes  bitter.  It  is  estimated  that  before 
many  years  the  two  cities  will  contain  a  million 
people. 

In  conclusion,  it  will  be  profitable  to  compare 
Minneapolis  and  St.  Paul  with  other  great  centers 
of  trade  in  our  own  country  which  are  somewhat 
similarly  located.  Pittsburg  and  Allegheny  City, 
especially,  at  the  head  of  regular  steamboating 
on  the  Ohio,  may  well  be  compared  with  the  Twin 
Cities  of  Minnesota.  Pittsburg  is  also  the  center 
of  vast  exchanges  of  raw  products  and  of  manu- 


120  Special  Method. 

factures  from  these  products.  Water  and  railway 
traffic  are  also  equally  well  illustrated.  Minne- 
apolis and  St.  Paul  are  far  away  from  the  coal 
supply  and  that  has  somewhat  hindered  the 
growth  of  manufactures.  How  is  coal  obtained 
cheapest  in  St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis?  It  may  be 
well  also  to  locate  on  the  map  carefully  the  great 
wheat  and  lumber  districts  that  are  tributary  to 
St.  Paul  and  Minneapolis  and  to  draw  in  outline 
the  states  included.  Compare  these  also  with  the 
corn  belt  and  the  prairie  regions  further  south. 
Kansas  City  is  also  a  place  of  modern  growth  that 
may  well  be  compared  as  to  its  advantages  with 
Minneapolis.  It  also  controls  the  trade  of  a  large 
area  and  collects  and  distributes  products  on  an 
extensive  scale.  Later  when  we  come  to  study  the 
eastern  states,  the  Twin  Cities  may  also  be  com- 
pared with  Albany  and  Troy  at  the  head  of  navi- 
gation on  the  Hudson. 

A  full  and  detailed  description  of  a  single  great 
trade  center  like  Minneapolis  will  enable  the  chil- 
dren to  see  the  causal  influences  wiiich  have  really 
produced  a  great  city.  The  lines  of  traffic  cross 
each  other  in  different  directions  and  they  see  that 
where  raw  products  are  collected  in  such  vast 
quantities  manufacturing  naturally  follows.  Min- 
neapolis is  an  excellent  type  of  these  things,  and 
stands  out  with  sufficient  distinctness  to  make 
these  ideas  apparent.  As  they  study  other  cities 
in  their  later  lessons  they  will  be  inclined  to  look 


QeograpJiy  for  tin  Fourth  Grade.  121 

for  the  causes  which  make  and  keep  alive  the  im- 
portance of  great  cities. 

References,  Harper's  Magazine,  March  1892, 
"The  Capitals  of  the  Northwest." 

Lake  Superior. 

"Lake  Superior  is  the  largest  lake  in  the  world, 
and  the  largest  body  of  fresh  water.  It  is  380 
miles  in  length,  and  160  miles  across  at  the  widest 
part.  Its  watery  area  of  32,000  square  miles 
proves  it  to  be  the  size  of  the  state  of  Indiana,  or 
four  times  as  big  as  Massachusetts.  It  is  about 
600  feet  above  the  sea  level,  but  the  government 
charts  show  that  in  its  deepest  parts  the  water 
has  a  depth  of  1,386  feet,  so  that  there,  at  least, 
the  bottom  of  the  lake  is  more  than  700  feet  below 
the  level  of  the  sea.  North  of  Keweenaw  Point, 
on  the  south  side,  there  is  a  depth  of  1,008  feet, 
and  great  depths,  above  500  feet,  are  scattered 
all  about  the  lake.  Its  shore  line  is  1,500  miles 
in  length." 

The  lake  fills  a  great  basin,  which  has  a  hig'h, 
rocky- rim  all  about  it.  The  short,  steep  slope  is 
toward  the  lake,  while  the  long,  gradual  slope, 
after  reaching  the  summit  of  the  ridge,  is  away 
from  the  lake.  More  than  200  small  rivers  pour 
their  waters  into  Lake  Superior,  but  they  are 
mostly  short,  with  swift,  foaming  currents  as  they 
come  tumbling  over  the  rocks,  down  the  steep 
slopes  of  the  country  surrounding  the  lake.    These 


122  Special  Method. 

rivers  are  not  larg'e  and  smooth  enough  for  boat- 
ing-, but  they  supply  splendid  water  power  for 
mills,  which  will  be  used  in  time.  The  St.  Louis 
river,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Superior,  is  one  of  the 
largest  of  these  streams,  and  is  often  spoken  of 
as  the  source  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  This  river 
makes  some  big  leaps  and  falls  as  it  descends  the 
rocky  ledge  between  the  plateau  of  Minnesota  and 
the  lower  level  of  the  lake.  The  rivers  tributary 
to  Lake  Superior  drain  a  territory  of  53,000  square 
miles,  or  nearly  as  large  a  space  as  Illinois. 

The  shores  of  the  lake  are  very  rocky,  and 
only  in  a  few  places  are  there  sandy  or  level 
beaches,  especially  along  the  southern  shore. 
Along  the  north  shore  the  steep,  rocky  cliffs  rise 
a  thousand  feet  and  more  above  the  water,  and  the 
lake  is  deep  at  their  base.  There  are  also  many 
deep  bays  and  harbors  along  this  northern  shore. 
The  steep  cliffs  and  deep  water  and  bays  of  this 
northern  coast  make  the  shore  scenery  of  the  lake 
grand  and  impressive  like  that  of  the  ocean  on 
rocky  shores.  Along  the  central  part  of  the 
southern  shore,  where  the  lake  is  widest,  are  the 
high  sand  stone  cliffs  known  as  the  pictured 
rocks.  As  the  winds  and  storms  of  the  north 
drive  across  the  lake,  the  great  waves  beat  upon 
this  southern  shore  with  much  fury  and  have 
washed  out  and  chiseled  the  rocks  into  many 
curious  and  interesting  shapes.  The  sand  and 
gravel  have  also  been  piled  up  beyond  the  shore 


Geography  for  itu  Fourth  Grade.  123 

line  in  white  hills  two  and  three  hundred  feet  high. 
The  shores  on  all  sides  are  clothed  with  the  dark 
evergreen  forests,  which  extend  far  northward 
into  Canada  and  southward  into  Wisconsin  and 
Michigan.  As  the  shores  for  many  miles  are  not 
settled,  line  hunting  is  still  met  in  these  wilder- 
nesses of  forests  and  streams. 

"At  present  there  are  trout  a  plenty  in  the 
streams  that  flow  into  the  great  lakes  through  the 
beautiful  forests  which  clothe  that  enormous 
tract,  in  which,  south  of  Superior  alone  there  are 
said  to  be  500  or  600  little  lakes.  Exactly  like  it, 
from  the  sportsman's  point  of  view,  is  the  region 
north  of  the  lake,  where  the  land  looks,  upon  a 
detailed  map,  like  a  great  sponge,  all  glistening 
with  water,  so  crowded  is  its  surface  with  lakes 
and  streams.  In  the  north  are  the  caribou  and 
all  the  animals  that  the  fur-traders  of  the  Hud- 
son Bay  Company  value.  South  of  the  lake 
there  are  no  animals  larger  than  the  deer,  but 
deer  are  abundant  and  bear  are  still  numerous. 
In  the  fishing"  season  a  man  may  feast  on  trout, 
black  bass,  pickerel,  muskallonge,  partridge, 
venison,  and  rabbit. 

"The  city  of  Marquette,  on  Iron  Bay,  in  the 
center  of  the  most  picturesque  part  of  the  south 
shore,  gets  its  importance  as  a  shipping  port  for 
ore  and  lumber,  but  it  occupies  the  most  beautiful 
site  and  is  the  most  beautiful  town,  as  seen  from 
the  water,  of  all  those  that  have  grown  up  on  the 


124  Special  Method. 

lake.  It  has  a  large  and  busy  trading-  district  on 
the  sandy  shore  of  the  lake,  but  the  fine  residence 
districts  surmount  a  high  bluff  which  half  encir- 
cles the  town.  Ridge  street,  two  hundred  feet 
above  the  lake  may  easily  become  one  of  the  finest 
avenues  in  America,  and  already  it  numbers  some 
of  the  most  artistic  and  costly  houses  in  the  Lake 
Superior  region.  With  its  drives  and  neighboring 
forests,  with  its  fishing  streams  and  lake,  it  de- 
serves to  rank  as  a  summer  resort.''  Presque  Isle 
Park,  on  a  high  rock  promontory  overlooking  the 
lake,  with  a  forest  above  and  the  steep  rocks  be- 
low, is  hollowed  out  into  caves  which  a  boat  may 
enter  from  the  lake.  The  Pictured  Rocks  also  are 
only  a  short  distance  east  of  Marquette,  so  that 
this  entire  region  is  one  of  great  interest.  This 
southern  shore  is  also  very  important  on  account 
of  the  great  iron  mines  in  the  Marquette  range 
(seventy-two  in  number)  and  the  large  copper 
mines  in  the  Keweenaw  peninsula.  The  largest 
ore  docks  in  the  world  are  seen  at  Marquette. 

There  are  also  many  islands  in  the  lake  which 
add  to  the  interest  and  scenery.  "Numerous 
islands  are  scattered  about  the  north  side  of  the 
lake,  many  rising  precipitously  to  great  heights 
from  deep  water,  some  presenting  castellated  walls 
of  basalt,  and  others  rising  in  granite  peaks  to  vari- 
ous elevations  up  to  1,300  feet  above  the  water." — 
(Cycloped.  Britan.)  The  northern  shore  is  also 
rocky  and  steep.     "Its  famed  and  stately  walls  of 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  125 

rock  delve  straight  downward  into  the  water  and 
rise  sheer  above  it  without  giving"  nature  the  slight- 
est chance  to  make  a  litter  of  dirt  and  rocks  at 
their  feet.  While  other  rocky  shores  of  other 
waters  stand  apart  or  merely  wet  their  toes  in  the 
fljid,  those  monsters  wade  in  neck  deep  and  only 
expose  their  heads  in  the  sunlight,  sometimes  200 
fathoms  from  the  bottom.  Terrible  prison  walls 
these  become  to  the  shipwrecked  mariners,  for 
they  extend  in  reaches  sometimes  twenty-five 
miles  long  without  offering  a  finger  hold  for  self 
rescue.  The  largest  of  the  islands  is  a  part  of 
the  United  States.  In  fact  the  greater  part  of  the 
lake  itself  belongs  to  the  United  States,  although 
the  northern  part  goes  with  Canada. 

The  fisheries  form  an  important  business  on 
the  shores  and  islands.  "The  lake  and  the  vast 
region  around  it  are  the  sportsman's  paradise  and 
a  treasury  of  wealth  for  those  who  deal  in  the 
products  of  the  wilderness — furs,  fish,  and  lumber. 
At  little  Port  Arthur  alone,  (on  the  north  shore,) 
the  figures  for  the  fishing  industry  for  the  mar- 
ket are  astonishing.  In  1888  the  fishermen  there 
caught  500,000  pounds  of  white  fish,  360,000  pounds 
of  lake  trout,  90,000  pounds  of  pickerel,  48,000 
pounds  of  sturgeon,  and  30,000  pounds  of  other 
fish,  or  more  than  a  million  pounds  in  all.  They 
did  this  with  an  investment  of  $3,800  in  boats 
and  $10,000  in  gill  and  pound  nets.  This  yield 
nearly  all  went  to  the  Chicago  Packing  Company 


126  Special  Method. 

and  it  is  in  the  main  Chicago  and  Cleveland 
capital  that  is  controlling-  lake  fisheries.  The 
white  fish,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  is  the  most  de- 
licious fish  known  to  Americans.  The  lake  trout 
are  mere  food,  they  are  peculiar  to  our  inland 
waters,  they  average  five  to  ten  pounds  in  weight 
and  yet  grow  to  weigh  a  hundred  and  twenty 
pounds." — (Harper's  Mag.) 

The  fish  are  caught  in  nets,  and,  by  the  use  of 
small  meshed  nets,  the  fishermen  claim  that  mill- 
ions of  small  fish  are  killed  each  year  and  the 
fishing  is  thus  being  seriously  damaged.  The  fish 
commission  has  been  trying  to  cultivate  greater 
numbers  of  the  best  fish  by  putting  "fry"  yearly 
into  the  lakes.  This,  however,  it  is  claimed,  does 
not  repair  the  damage  done  by  the  use  of  small- 
meshed  nets. 

The  water  of  the  lake  is  clear  and  cold  at  all 
seasons.  It  is  almost  ice  cold  in  summer  so  that 
sailors  and  fishermen  are  quickly  chilled  by  fall- 
ing into  it,  but  in  winter  it  does  not  freeze  over, 
so  great  is  the  quantity  of  water  and  so  slowly 
does  it  change  its  temperature.  The  water  is  so 
clear  that  one  can  easily  see  objects  at  a  depth  of 
twenty  feet,  and  the  sailors  claim  even  to  a  depth 
of  forty  feet.  When  the  water  is  shallow  it  is  dis- 
tinctly green;  but  in  deep  waters  it  changes  to 
blue  when  seen  at  a  distance,  and  it  has  varied 
hues  and  colors  according  to  the  changes  of  the 
atmosphere  and  sunlight. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade  127 

"One  peculiarity  of  Lake  Superior  cannot  be 
too  strongly  dwelt  upon  or  exaggerated.  That  is 
its  purity,  the  wonderful  clearness  and  freshness 
of  it  and  of  its  atmosphere  and  of  its  borders.  It 
must  become  the  seat  of  a  hundred  summer  re- 
sorts when  the  people  visit  it  and  succumb  to  its 
spell."  Already  two  of  its  summer  resorts  have 
become  famous,  Munising  and  Nepigon,  while  there 
is  room  and  opportunity  for  many  more  along  its 
1,500  miles  of  rocky  and  forest-covered  coast  line. 

Within  the  last  few  years  the  commerce  of  the 
lake  has  grown  into  very  great  importance.  The 
lake  surface  lies  twenty-two  feet  higher  than  Lake 
Huron  and  Lake  Michigan,  and  until  a  canal  and 
lock  were  built  to  connect  the  commerce  of  Lake 
Superior  with  that  of  the  other  lakes,  little  could 
be  done  to  develop  the  trade  of  Lake  Superior's 
cities.  "As  originally  built,  the  canal  in  St. 
Mary's  River  was  a  mile  long,  had  a  width  of 
one  hundred  feet  at  the  water  line,  and  a  depth 
of  twelve  feet.  The  locks  were  two  in  number, 
each  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in  length, 
seventy  feet  in  width.  At  the  time  the  canal 
was  made  these  dimensions  were  sufficient  to  pass 
any  vessel  on  the  lakes  fully  laden,  but  by  1870  it 
became  necessary  to  provide  for  more  rapid  lock- 
age and  for  the  passage  of  larger  vessels.  Ac- 
cordingly the  old  canal  was  widened  and  deepened 
and  a  new  lock  constructed  five  hundred  and  fif- 
teen feet   long   and   eighteen   feet   wide.     There 


128  Special  Method. 

is  now  everywhere  a  navigable  depth  of  sixteen 
feet  from  Lake  Superior  to  Lake  Huron.  In  1883 
the  registered  tonnage  passing  the  canal  was 
2,042.295  tons.  The  United  States  government 
engineers  have  already  presented  a  project  for 
still  further  improvements,  namely,  to  replace 
the  old  locks  by  one  only,  with  a  length  of  seven 
hundred  feet,  a  width  of  seventy  feet,  and  a  depth 
of  twenty-one  feet."  (Encyclopedia  Britannica.) 
"The  date  of  the  last  enlargement  of  the  lock 
is  the  date  upon  which  to  base  all  computations 
as  to  the  lake  traffic.  The  lock  was  enlarged  and 
newly  opened  in  1881.  Marquette,  the  'Queen  City 
of  Lake  Superior,'  is  an  old  place  of  former  indus- 
try, but  it  is  a  mere  baby  in  its  present  enterprise. 
Superior  dates  from  1852  'on  paper,'  but  from  1881 
in  fact;  while  Duluth  is  only  a  few  years  older. 
Port  Arthur,  the  principal  Canadian  port,  owes 
itself  to  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  now  about 
seven  or  eight  years  of  age  (1892),  and  many  of 
the  future  cities  are  not  yet  discovered."  (Har- 
per's Magazine.  April,  '92.)  The  Canadians  have 
also  built  a  canal  on  their  side  of  the  strait,  so  as 
to  be  independent  of  the  United  States.  In  1890 
nine  million  tons  of  shipping  passed  through  the 
strait.  But  the  increase  of  shipping  was  so  great 
that  Duluth  and  other  lake  ports  were  greatly 
dissatisfied  because  of  insufficient  lockage.  In 
1890  the  depth  of  water  in  the  canal  was 
from  14f  feet  to  15}  feet.     The  new  government 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  129 

lock,  built  at  a  cost  of  four  millions  of  dollars, 
is  one  hundred  feet  wide,  twenty-one  feet  deep, 
and  one  thousand  two  hundred  feet  long-.  On 
account  of  an  accident  to  the  old  lock  it  was 
closed  for  a  short  time.  It  cost  the  companies 
who  use  the  canal  a  loss  of  one  million  dollars 
and  delayed  about  one  hundred  and  eighty-three 
vessels  each  way. 

Since  1881  a  vast  commerce  has  developed  on 
Lake  Superior.  The  great  iron  and  copper  mines 
all  along  the  shores  in  Minnesota,  Michigan,  and 
Wisconsin;  the  wheat  and  other  grains  from  the 
prairies  of  the  northwest,  loaded  into  ships  at 
Duluth  and  Superior,  and  the  thriving  cities  that 
have  sprung"  up  like  magic  on  the  shores  of  this 
great  inland  sea,  have  produced  an  amount  of 
traffic  that  is  worth  many  millions  of  dollars. 
Duluth  has  been  regarded  as  a  second  Chicago 
and  as  a  city  with  a  great  future.  It  lies  much 
nearer  the  great  wheat  fields  than  Chicago,  and 
500  miles  nearer  the  Pacific  Ocean  at  Puget  Sound. 
The  Canadian  and  Northern  Pacific  railroads  lead 
directly  to  Lake  Superior  at  Duluth  and  Port 
Arthur. 

The  whaleback  steamers  at  Duluth  and  Supe- 
rior are  loaded  with  wheat  for  Buffalo.  One  of 
them  even  passed  through  the  Welland  canal  and 
down  the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence  to  Liverpool. 
Th<-  great  ambition  of  the  Lake  Superior  cities  is 
to  secure  a  twenty-foot  waterway  from  Duluth  to 


130  Special  Method. 

the  Atlantic  Ocean,  so  that  large  vessels  of  6,000 
tons  burden  can  sail  directly  for  Europe.  From 
Marquette,  Duluth,  and  other  cities  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, there  are  shipments  every  year  of  millions 
of  tons  of  iron  and  copper  ore,  and  of  wheat.  The 
lumber  trade  through  the  canal  is  also  very  im- 
portant, and  the  shipment  of  coal  from  Pennsyl- 
vania to  Duluth  and  Superior  supplies  the  returning 
vessels  a  large  part  of  their  cargo.  In  this  way 
Minnesota  secures  a  comparatively  cheap  supply 
of  coal,  although  the  distance  from  the  coal  fields 
is  great. 

The  season  for  navigation  on  Lake  Superior 
lasts  usually  about  eight  months,  from  the  middle 
of  April  to  the  middle  of  December.  The  sailor's 
life  on  the  lake  is  a  severe  one.  The  storms  are 
as  rough  as  upon  the  ocean.  In  midwinter, 
although  the  lake  is  not  frozen  over,  it  is  not 
navigable  as  the  shores  are  lined  with  ice  for 
four  or  five  miles  out  from  the  land.  "There 
are  two  obstructions  for  which  Superior  is 
notorious  and  they  rank  next  to  the  ice  and 
still  further  limit  navigation  for  some  lines 
of  ships.  These  evils  are  the  fogs  and  the  snow- 
storms. And  of  these  two  the  fogs  are  the  more 
numerous  and  the  snows  the  more  dreaded.  In 
the  summer,  Dame  Superior  wears  her  fogs  almost 
as  a  Turkish  wife  wears  her  veils.  There  is  a  time 
in  August  when  the  only  fogs  are  those  which  fol- 
low the  rain,  but  the  snow  begins  in  September. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  131 

The  Canadian  Pacific  steamships  are  only  in  ser- 
vice from  Ma}r  to  October  and  it  is  the  snow  that 
curtails  their  season.  It  snows  on  the  great  lakes 
as  it  does  on  the  plains,  in  terrible  flurries,  during 
the  course  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  see  a  foot 
ahead,  or  to  see  at  all.  It  has  a  way  of  snowing 
on  Superior  as  late  as  June  and  as  early  as  Sep- 
tember. As  for  the  fogs,  though  they  are  light 
and  often  fleeting  after  midsummer,  they  are  suffi- 
ciently frequent  during  the  rest  of  the  season  of 
navigation  to  have  given  the  lake  a  bad  name 
among  sailors,  and  I  had  a  captain  tell  me  that  he 
had  made  seven  voyages  in  succession  without 
seeing  any  lights  on  his  route  from  Port  Arthur 
to  the  Soo." 

Great  railroad  lines  extend  now  from  east  to 
west  along  both  shores,  the  Canadian  Pacific  on 
the  north  and  the  "Soo  Road"  on  the  south. 
Freight  is  much  cheaper  by  water  than  by  rail, 
and  the  freight  rates  by  water  compel  the  rail- 
roads to  reduce  their  rates.  "Those  who  have 
made  the  arguments  for  the  various  lake  ports 
show  that  whereas  in  1868  the  rail  rate  on  grain 
from  Chicago  to  New  York  was  42.6  cents  a 
bushel  it  was  14  cents  in  1885.  The  water  rate  fell 
in  that  time  from  2")  cents  a  bushel  to  4.55  cents. 
It  has  kept  from  25  to  67  per  cent  lower  than  the 
rail  rate.  The  value  of  the  water-ways  to  the 
public  is  illustrated  in  a  startling  way  by  making 
use  of  the  government  records  of  the  Sault  Ste. 


132  Special  Method. 

Marie  Canal  traffic  for  1889,  There  passed 
through  that  canal  7,516,022  tons,  carried  an  av- 
erage distance  of  790.4  miles  at  0.145  cents  a  ton 
a  mile.  The  railroads  would  have  charged  0.976 
cents,  and  the  business  would  have  cost  the  public 
fifty  millions  of  dollars  more  if  the  railroads  had 
transacted  it  than  was  charged  by  the  boatmen." 
This  gives  some  notion  of  the  vast  amount  of 
freig'ht  on  our  great  inland  lakes.  Thirty-six 
millions  of  tons  of  freight  passed  through  the 
Detroit  River  in  one  }Tear,  which  is  much  greater 
than  the  tonnage  of  the  ocean  and  gulf  ports  of 
the  entire  United  States.  A  study  of  these  trade 
routes  from  the  Great  Lakes  to  the  St.  Lawrence 
and  Hudson  reveals  the  chief  line  of  traffic  in  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  between  the  United 
States  and  Europe. 

After  studying  Lake  Superior  in  detail  it  will 
be  instructive  to  make  a  brief  comparative  study 
of  the  other  great  lakes,  their  shores  and  cities, 
their  size  and  commerce.  Any  good  cyclopedia 
will  furnish  sufficient  data  from  which  to  com- 
pare the  other  lakes  with  Superior.  The  chief 
lake  ports  should  also  be  studied  and  compared 
in  their  relative  importance  and  advantage  for 
trade.  In  Tilden's  Commercial  Geography,  pp. 
74,  75,  is  a  valuable  though  brief  treatment  of  the 
"Nine  Lake  Ports"  (Leach,  Shewell  &  Sanborn, 
Chicago). 

In  the   later  study  of  geography   in  America 


Geography  for  th  Fourth  Grade.  133 

and  in  other  continents  such  a  knowledge  of  our 
great  lakes,  their  extent,  scenery,  climate,  com- 
merce, and  cities  will  be  helpful  and  should  be 
called  up  again  in  frequent  comparisons. 

The  Surface  of  Tennessee. 

An  examination  of  the  map  of  the  United 
States  will  show  that  Tennessee  from  east  to  west 
includes  the  whole  slope  of  the  Mississippi  valley, 
from  the  highest  summit  of  the  Allegheny  range 
to  the  bottom  lands  and  swamps  of  the  great 
river.  In  Tennessee  and  Alabama,  also,  we  find 
the  nearest  approach  of  the  mountains  to  the 
Mississippi. 

A  study  of  the  surface  features  of  Tennessee 
not  only  shows  some  of  the  chief  varieties  of 
mountain  and  plain,  and  their  agricultural  and 
mineral  products,  but  gives  them  in  a  series  of 
parallel  districts.  The  Tennessee  river  crosses 
the  state  twice  from  north  to  south,  and  with  the 
Cumberland  gives  the  state  three  distinct  valleys, 
with  the  mountains  or  elevated  ridges  between. 

The  Valley  of  East  Tennessee  is  perhaps  the 
most  attractive  part  of  the  state  to  visitors  and 
travelers.  It  extends  from  northeast  to  south- 
west across  the  state,  and  is  drained  by  the 
Upper  Tennessee  and  its  branches.  It  is  a  long, 
narrow,  valley,  somewhat  rough  and  irregular, 
at  its  narrowest  point  not  more  than  seven  miles 
across  and  widening  out  to  twenty-five  miles.    This 


13-4  Special  Method. 

valley  has  the  range  of  the  Great  Smoky  moun- 
tains, or  Unaka  range,  on  the  east,  separating  it 
from  North  Carolina,  and  the  lower  Cumberland 
mountains  on  the  west.  This  long  valley  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  great  Valley  of  Virginia,  and  was 
the  home  of  the  first  settlers  under  Robertson  and 
Sevier.  It  is  somewhat  elevated  above  the  sea, 
and  has  a  cool  and  bracing  climate  even  in  sum- 
mer time.  During  the  Civil  war  this  part  of 
Tennessee  remained  faithful  to  the  union,  and  was 
the  scene  of  many  battles  of  importance.  Near 
Chattanooga  the  river  breaks  its  way  through  the 
mountains  and  turns  southwestward  into  Ala- 
bama. At  this  point  are  some  noble  bluffs  and 
deep  gorges,  through  which  the  river  passes,  and 
this  was  the  center  of  Grant's  great  movements 
at  one  period  of  the  war.  Both  sides  of  this  val- 
ley have  abundance  of  iron  ore,  and  many  furnaces 
have  been  established  for  its  reduction.  Marble 
is  also  quarried  along  the  valley,  and  has  been 
much  used  in  the  United  States  for  building  pur- 
poses: as,  for  example,  in  the  Capitol  at  Wash- 
ington. This  great  valley  has  been  washed  out 
during  long  ages  by  the  waters  of  the  Tennessee 
and  its  tributaries.  The  upper  slopes  of  the 
mountains  are  covered  with  pine  forests,  which 
yield  tar,  pitch,  and  turpentine.  On  the  lower 
mountain  slopes  are  groves  of  sugar-maple  and 
other  hard  wood  trees,  and  red-cedar.  The  hills 
and  mountain  slopes  afford  abundant  pasturage, 


Geography  for  tlie  Fourth  Grade.  135 

but  there  is  only  a  narrow  strip  of  rich  agricul- 
tural land.  The  coal  fields  also  extend  along-  this 
valley,  so  that  the  iron  ore  can  be  smelted  with 
coal  obtained  near  at  hand. 

Between  the  valley  of  east  Tennessee  and  the 
valley  of  middle  Tennessee,  with  Nashville  as  its 
center,  are  the  Cumberland  mountains  and  their 
projecting-  highlands  toward  the  west  and  south 
This  mountain  district  is  not  so  high  as  the  Unaka 
range,  and  while  most  of  the  ridges  extend  from 
north  to  south,  some  are  at  right  angles  to  this. 
"The  Cumberland  mountains  stretch  across  the 
state  from  north  to  south,  and  in  the  middle  of 
the  state  take  a  westerly  direction,  gradually  di- 
minishing into  moderately  hilly  ridges,  enclosing" 
beautiful  and  fertile  valleys.  These  mountains 
occupy  in  some  places  a  breadth  of  fifty  miles, 
and  are  a  prolongation  of  the  Allegheny  range." 
This  district  of  the  Cumberland  mountains  is 
really  a  plateau,  rising  in  places  to  3,000  feet, 
forty  miles  wide  and  a  hundred  and  forty  long.  It 
is  underlaid  with  the  coal  measures,  and  above 
them  lie  the  later  rock  strata  that  were  formed 
above  the  coal  bearing-  strata. 

In  the  north  central  part  of  the  state  lies  the 
rich  and  beautiful  valley  of  middle  Tennessee 
through  which  the  Cumberland  river  flows.  Most 
of  the  country  between  the  Cumberland  moun- 
tains and  the  Tennessee  river  of  the  west  is  hilly 
and  broken,  but  the  valley  about  Nashville  sinks 


136  Special  Mitlmd. 

below  the  level  of  the  surrounding  ridges,  and,  in 
fact,  is  like  a  great  basin  with  a  rim  of  rocky 
highlands  surrounding  it.  It  is  about  two  hun- 
dred feet  below  the  level  of  the  surrounding  hills 
and  was  selected  by  the  early  settlers  at  Nash- 
ville for  its  fertility  and  rich  promise.  The  soil 
of  middle  Tennessee,  -as  it  is  called,  is  generally 
good,  producing  large  crops  of  wheat  and  other 
grains,  hemp,  flax,  cotton,  and  tobacco.  In  this 
region,  also,  are  splendid  forests  which  have  been 
more  developed  in  recent  years  than  formerly. 
The  pojdar,  hickory,  black  walnut,  oak,  beech, 
locust,  and  cherry  are  found  in  abundance,  both 
on  the  lower  levels  and  on  the  uplands.  The  lum- 
ber industry  of  Tennessee  has  grown  to  much  im- 
portance. 

Nashville,  Tennessee,  has  become  noted  as  a 
beautiful  southern  city.  It  has  a  number  of  great 
schools  and  higher  institutions  and  the  state  capi- 
tol,  as  well  as  a  beautiful  location  on  the  river. 

The  district  between  the  Tennessee  and  Mis- 
sissippi rivers  is  more  level  and  is  a  rich  agricul- 
tural region.  There  are  some  low  and  swampy 
lands  in  the  northern  part,  and  along  the  low- 
lands of  both  the  Tennessee  and  Mississippi  are 
extensive  canebrakes,  with  tall  canes  of  great 
size.  The  uplands  produce  cotton,  tobacco,  and 
grain  in  abundance.  In  the  lowlands  are  large 
swamp  cypress,  sycamore,  cotton  wood,  and  swamp 
cedar.     Memphis,  on  a  bluff  in  the  southeast  of 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Oracle.  137 

the  state,  is  a  great  cotton  market.  It  has  been 
scourged  twice  with  yellow  fever,  which  was 
brought  up  the  river  in  boats  from  New  Orleans. 
Memphis  is  the  chief  river  port  between  St.  Louis 
and  New  Orleans.  Much  of  the  cotton  collected 
here  is  shipped  by  rail  to  New  York  and  other 
eastern  cities.  A  ferry  crosses  the  Mississippi  at 
Memphis  and  connects  with  railroads  to  Kansas 
City  and  Little  Rock. 

The  state  of  Tennessee  is  naturally  a  very  rich 
country  with  great  forests,  abundance  of  coal  and 
iron  in  its  hills  and  mountains.  It  has  also  a  rich 
soil  and  large  navigable  rivers  which  make  ship- 
ments to  the  gulf  or  to  the  Ohio  cheap.  But 
since  the  war  the  resources  of  the  state  have  not 
been  rapidly  developed  until  the  last  few  years. 
Large  smelting  steel  and  iron  works  have  been 
established  at  Chattanooga  and  at  Knoxville. 
Mills  for  the  manufacture  of  cotton  cloth  have  been 
established  also,  and  northern  capital  and  settlers 
are  helping  to  develop  the  riches  of  the  country. 
Large  companies  with  extensive  capital  have 
bought  up  some  of  the  best  forest  tracts  and  are 
developing  the  lumber  business.  Many  varieties 
of  excellent  marble  have  been  quarried  in  Tennes- 
see and  are  shipped  to  other  states. 

One  of  the  curiosities  of  the  surface  of  Tennessee 
is  the  great  number  of  deep  and  extensive  caves 
found  in  the  hilly  limestone  districts  of  this 
state.    Several  of  them  are  miles  in  extent  under- 


138  Special  Method. 

ground,  with  streams  of   water  flowing   through 
them. 

Tennessee  is  as  much  broken  up  and  irregular  in 
its  surface  features  as  any  of  the  states  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  will  be  well  to  have 
the  children  not  only  draw  it  in  outline,  locating 
the  districts  clearly,  but  also  mould  it  in  sand  on 
the  sand  table  and  work  out  in  detail  its  physi- 
cal peculiarities,  studying  the  maps  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  cyclopedias  will  help  the  teacher  in 
getting  a  clearer  picture  of  the  surface. 

Trip  on  the  Lower  Mississippi 

FROM   ST.    LOUIS  TO  THE  JETTIES   AT  THE  DELTA. 

A  steamboat  trip  on  the  lower  Mississippi  from 
St.  Louis  down  to  the  mouth  was  formerly  much 
more  common  and  popular  than  now.  The  steamer 
itself  is  a  grand  affair  with  its  great  smoke  stacks 
from  which  issue  clouds  of  black.  A  writer  in 
Scribner's  Monthly  for  October,  1874,  thus  de- 
scribes a  Mississippi  steamer:  "The  'Great  Re- 
public' is  the  largest  steamer  on  the  river,  literally 
a  floating  palace.  The  luxuriantly  furnished 
cabin  is  as  long  and  ample  as  a  promenade  hall, 
and  has  accommodations  for  two  hundred  guests. 
Standing  on  the  upper  deck  or  in  the  pilot  house 
one  fancies  the  graceful  structure  to  be  at  rest, 
even  when  going  at  full  speed.  This  is  the  very 
luxury  of  travel.  An  army  of  servants  come  and 
go.  As  in  an  ocean  voyage,  breakfast,  dinner, 
and  tea  succeed  each  other  so  quickly  that  one 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  139 

regrets  the  rapid  flight  of  the  hours.  In  the  even- 
ing there  is  the  blaze  of  the  chandeliers,  the 
opened  piano,  a  colored  band  grouped  about  it  and 
playing  tasteful  music  while  youths  and  maidens 
dance.  The  two  score  negro  'roustabouts'  on  the 
boat  were  sources  of  infinite  amusement  to  the 
passengers.  At  the  small  landings  the  Great 
Republic  would  lower  her  gangplanks  and  down 
the  steep  levees  would  come  a  procession  of  ne- 
groes and  flour  barrels.  The  pilots,  perched  in 
their  cosy  cage,  twisted  the  wheel  and  told  us 
strange  stories." 

Up  to  the  time  of  the  war  the  lower  Mississippi 
was  the  scene  of  great  steamboat  travel  and 
traffic.  The  invention  of  the  steamboat  by  Ful- 
ton was  a  great  help  to  the  early  settlers  of  the 
Ohio  and  Mississippi  valleys.  Before  1817  there 
were  eight  steamboats  on  the  Ohio;  in  1829  there 
were  over  200  steamboats  on  the  Mississippi;  in 
1842  there  were  600  steamboats  and  4,000  flat- 
boats;  in  1847  there  were  1,190  steamboats,  besides 
barges  and  flatboats  on  western  rivers.  These 
figures,  though  brief,  show  how  trade  and  travel 
grew  on  our  western  rivers  before  the  age  of  rail- 
roads Vast  quantities  of  goods  were  shipped  on 
the  rivers  east  and  west,  north  and  south.  In  1H42 
it  is  estimated  that  $220,000,000  worth  of  goods 
were  carried  by  the  boats  on  western  rivers.  Emi- 
grants with  their  families  and  household  goods 
came  west  by  boat  and  it  was  the  common  mode 


140  Special  Method. 

of  travel  for  all.  There  was  great  rivalry  of  the 
companies  in  building  splendid  boats,  and  races 
up  and  down  the  river  were  common. 

A  trip  in  a  steamboat  nowadays  down  the 
Mississippi  is  not  so  exciting  and  trade  and  steam- 
boat life  are  not  so  brisk,  and  yet  such  a  trip  is 
perhaps  the  best  means  of  getting  some  knowledge 
of  our  greatest  river  and  the  many  curious  and 
striking  pictures  it  furnishes. 

The  main  river  really  begins  where  the  Mis- 
souri joins  the  Mississippi,  and  together  they 
pour  their  vast  flood  down  the  broad  valley.  At 
Cairo,  the  southern  point  of  Illinois,  the  Ohio 
adds  its  waters  to  the  main  stream,  and  from 
there  on  the  current  deepens,  the  valley  widens, 
and  the  tar-like  flood  winds  its  crooked  course 
for  twelve  hundred  miles  through  the  soft  mud  and 
bottom  lands,  where  no  sign  of  rock  is  found  in 
bank  or  bottom,  but  only  the  rich  silt  carried 
down  by  the  river. 

The  distance  between  the  bluffs  is  from  twenty- 
five  to  eighty  or  even  a  hundred  miles.  From  Cairo 
to  Memphis  the  river  hugs  the  Kentucky  shore, 
leaving  the  earthquake  swamp  and  sunken  lands 
on  the  west  side  in  Missouri  and  Arkansas. 
Below  Memphis  the  channel  crosses  the  lowlands 
to  the  other  side  and  flows  past  the  bluffs  at 
Helena  and  the  mouths  of  the  White  and  Arkan- 
sas rivers.  Then  further  south  the  current  of  the 
river,  sweeps  across  the  lowlands  to  the  bluffs  at 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  141 

Vicksburg,  and  does  not  return  to  the  west  bluffs. 
There  are  vast  swamps  and  rich  bottom  lands  on 
the  east  side  between  Memphis  and  Vicksburg. 
Below  Vicksburg  there  are  such  extensive  low 
lands,  bayous  and  swamps  on  the  west  side.  In  the 
bottoms  the  land  slopes  down  gradually  away  from 
the  immediate  banks  of  the  river  so  that  most  of 
the  bottom  lands  are  below  the  level  of  high  water, 
and  are  subject  to  floods  unless  the  levees  can  be 
made  strong  and  high  enough  to  protect  them. 

Starting  from  St.  Louis  down  the  river  in 
March,  we  have  more  than  a  week's  quiet  jour- 
ney to  New  Orleans.  It  may  be  cold  and  wintry 
in  the  north  but  there  are  great  changes  of  cli- 
mate before  we  reach  the  end.  It  grows  warmer; 
we  find  the  fields  already  plowed  and  planted  in 
Mississippi,  and  the  trees  are  green.  The  swamp 
oaks  festooned  with  gray  moss  give  the  lowlands 
a  dismal  look,  and  at  this  season  the  bottom  lands 
may  be  flooded.  In  places  along  the  shore  of 
Tennessee  we  see  tall  canebrakes,  and  on  the 
bluffs  sometimes  two  and  three  hundred  feet 
above  the  valley  are  perched  the  cities. 

"A  journey  of  twelve  hundred  miles  was  before 
us.  We  were  sailing  from  the  treacherous  March 
weather  of  St.  Louis  to  meet  the  loveliest  summer 
robed  in  green  and  garlanded  with  fairest  blossoms. 
Eight  days  of  this  restful  sailing  on  the  gently 
throbbing  current  and  we  should  see  the  lowlands, 
the.  Cherokee  rose,  the  jessamine,  the  orange  tree." 


142  Special  Method. 

"Our  river  pilot  must  be  a  man  of  great  nerve 
and  experience,  not  only  knowing-  the  channel  and 
all  its  twisting  courses,  but  able  to  detect  changes 
in  the  shallows  and  currents,  and  skillful  to  guide 
the  vessel  even  at  night.  Mark  Twain  in  his 
'Life  on  the  Lower  Mississippi'  has  given  us  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  pilot  and  of  steamboat  life  at 
the  time  of  its  greatest  importance. 

"The  pilots  on  the  Mississippi  and  western 
rivers  have  an  association  with  headquarters  at 
St.  Louis  and  branches  at  Pittsburg  and  other 
cities.  Each  of  the  seventy-four  pilots  on  his 
trip  makes  a  report  of  the  changes  or  obstructions 
in  the  channel,  which  is  forwarded  from  point  to 
point  to  all  the  others. 

"In  March  and  April  when  the  snows  and  ice 
are  melting  and  the  spring  floods  come  down  all 
the  great  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi,  the  main 
channel  below  Cairo  becomes  a  mighty  torrent . 
It  rises  little  by  little  till  the  levees  can  scarcely 
hold  it  back.  These  floods  are  not  frequent,  but 
in  some  cases  they  have  been  very  destructive, 
and  neither  the  owners  of  plantations  in  the  great 
bottom  lands  nor  the  government  of  the  United 
States  have  been  able  yet  to  control  the  river  at 
such  times  of  danger. 

"When  the  rains  have  swollen  its  tributary 
rivers  to  more  than  their  ordinary  volume,  the 
Mississippi  River  is  grand,  terrible,  treacherous. 
Always  subtile  and  serpent-like  in  its  mode  of 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  143 

stealing-  upon  its  prey,  it  swallows  up  acres  at  one 
fell  swoop  on  one  side,  sweeping-  them  away  from 
their  frail  hold  on  the  mainland,  while,  on  the 
other,  it  covers  plantations  with  slime  and  broken 
tree  trunks  and  boughs,  forcing  the  frightened  in- 
habitants into  the  second  story  of  their  cabins, 
and  driving  the  cattle  and  swine  upon  high  knolls 
to  starve  or  to  drown.  It  pierces  the  puny  levees 
which  have  cost  the  bordering  states  such  vast 
sums,  and  goes  bubbling  and  roaring  through  the 
crevasse,  distracting  the  planters  and  sending 
dismay  to  millions  of  people  in  a  single  night.  It 
promises  a  fall  on  one  day  and  rises  suddenly  the 
next.  It  makes  a  lake  of  fertile  country  and  car- 
ries off  hundreds  of  wood-piles  which  patient  labor 
has  collected  along  the  banks  for  the  use  of  pass- 
ing steamers.  It  makes  islands  of  towns  perched 
on  the  banks.  As  the  huge  steamer  glides  along 
on  the  mighty  current  we  can  see  families  perched 
in  the  second  stories  of  their  houses.  At  one 
point  a  man  was  sculling  along  from  house  to 
barn  with  food  for  his  stock.  The  log  barn  was  a 
dreary  pile  in  the  :nidst  of  the  flood.  The  swine 
and  cows  stood  shivering  on  a  pine  knoll.  As  we 
passed  below  the  Arkansas  and  White  rivers,  the 
gigantic  volume  of  water  had  so  far  over-run  its 
natural  boundaries  that  we  seemed  at  sea  instead 
of  upon  an  inland  river.  The  cotton  wood  trees  and 
cypresses  stood  up  amid  the  watery  wilderness 
like  ghosts.     Gazing  into  the  long  avenues  of  the 


144  Special  Method. 

sombre  forests  we  could  see  only  the  same  level, 
all-enveloping-  flood.      In  the  open  country  the 
cabins  seemed  ready  to  sail  away,  though  their 
masters  were  usually  smoking-  with  much  equan 
imity  and  waiting-  a  'fall. ' " 

The  levees  built  along  the  bank  to  keep  the 
water  in  the  main  channel  and  prevent  overflow 
begin  above  Cairo.  This  city  is  built  on  a  flat, 
low  plain,  below  ^the  level  of  high  water.  The 
levees  are  strong-  at  this  point,  so  that  the  water 
does  not  flood  the  town,  but  it  seeps  through  the 
banks  and  covers  the  lower  ground,  making  it 
possible  to  pass  through  some  of  the  streets  in 
boats.  The  levees  are  designed  not  only  to  pre- 
vent the  floods  sweeping  into  the  lowlands,  but  by 
confining-  the  current  they  are  expected  to  cause 
the  waters  to  scour  out  a  deeper  channel.  Before 
the  war,  when  the  planters  were  richer  and  could 
control  their  laborers  to  better  advantage,  the 
levees  were  better  kept  up  and  the  lowlands  pro- 
tected; but  since  the  war  there  have  been  several 
destructive  floods,  doing  millions  of  dollars  worth 
of  damage.  There  is  a  levee  extending-  most  of 
the  distance  from  Cairo  to  Vicksburg-,  on  the  east 
side.  The  national  government  has  spent  a  good 
deal  of  money  in  surveying-  the  river  and  in  build- 
ing and  protecting-  the  levees.  One  chief  diffi- 
culty is  the  fact  that  the  levees  themselves  have 
to  be  built  of  the  soft  mud  and  dirt,  which  the 
current  of  the  river  so  easily  washes  away,  and 


Geography  for  the  Fowih  Grade.  145 

the  river  is  constantly  eating  into  its  banks  and 
washing-  away  at  times  whole  acres  of  land. 

Several  of  the  most  important  cities  we  pass 
upon  the  steamer  are  situated  high  on  the  bluffs 
at  the  foot  of  which  the  river  flows.  The  first  of 
these  is  Memphis,  on  the  fourth  Chickasaw  bluff, 
and  not  only  holding"  a  commanding  position  on  the 
bluff,  but  a  great  center  for  the  Mississippi  trade 
in  cotton  and  tobacco.  It  is  also  an  important 
railroad  center,  because  of  its  railroad  connections 
with  the  west  and  southwest,  and  with  the  east. 

Vicksburg,  another  "hill  city,"  is  on  a  great 
bend  in  the  river.  The  steep  streets  run  up  to  the 
terraces  and  bluffs  and  the  city  presents  an  im- 
posing sight  from  the  river,  The  bluffs  run  back 
to  a  higher  plateau  back  of  the  city,  and  many 
fine  residences  are  seen  on  the  higher  terraces. 
The  old  court-house  occupies  one  of  the  highest 
levels,  and  the  old  fort,  with  its  grass-covered 
ramparts,  still  stands  on  an  eminence  command- 
ing the  river  and  bears  marks  of  the  memorable 
sieg"e.  From  this  old  fort,  high  upon  the  bluffs, 
one  can  see  the  great  bend  in  the  river,  the  pass- 
ing steamers  and  ferries,  and  the  lowlands  of  the 
great  loup,  almost  covered  in  high  water.  During 
the  siege  of  Vicksburg,  General  Grant  tried  to 
turn  the  channel  of  the  river  at  the  time  of  the 
spring  flood.  In  this  he  failed,  but  in  later  years 
the  river  itself  made  a  cut-off,  leaving  the  city  of 
Vicksburg  several  miles  away  from  the  main  chan- 


146  Special  Method. 

nel.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Yazoo  river  is  the  great 
national  cemetery  where  sixteen  thousand  soldiers 
lie  buried,  and  twelve  thousand  of  the  graves 
are  marked  "unknown."  Trees  are  planted,  the 
grounds  are  kept  tastefully  in  honor  of  the  sol- 
diers who  fell  in  the  south.  Oak  trees  have  been 
planted  and  have  grown  upon  the  spot,  and  vines 
have  clambered  upon  them.  A  small  marble  mon- 
ument marks  the  spot  where  Grant  met  Pember- 
ton.  Vicksburg  was  formerly  the  center  of  a  great 
steamboat  trade  with  New  Orleans,  and  is  still 
important  for  the  cotton  trade. 

Natchez  also  stands  on  high  bluffs  overlooking 
the  river.  It  is  one  of  the  loveliest  of  Mississippi 
towns  and  was  once  the  home  of  great  wealth  and 
of  many  cultured  families.  That  part  of  the  town 
at  the  foot  of  the  bluffs  along  the  water  is  known 
as  "Natchez  under  the  Hill,"  where  the  steam- 
boats load  cotton.  The  steep  road  leading  up  the 
high  bluff  brings  us  to  a  beautifully  shaded,  quiet 
town  with  rich  and  cultured  homes.  Before  the 
war  this  was  a  favorite  residence  of  many  impor- 
tant families,  and  now  these  old  homes  may  be 
seen  in  the  midst  of  abundant  trees  and  blossoms. 
"In  the  suburbs,  before  the  war,  were  great  num- 
bers of  planters'  residences — beautiful  homes  with 
colonades  and  verandas,  with  rich  drawing  and 
dining  rooms,  furnished  in  heavy  antique  style, 
and  gardens  modeled  after  the  finest  in  Europe. 
Many  of  these  have  been  destroyed,  but  we  vis 


(h in/ ni i thy  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  147 

ited  some  still  preserved.  The  lawns  and  gardens 
are  luxurious,  the  wealth  of  roses  inconceivable. 
I  remember  no  palace  garden  in  Europe  which  im- 
pressed me  so  powerfully  with  the  sense  of  rich- 
ness and  profusion  of  costly  and  delicate  blooms 
as  Brown's  garden  at  Natchez.  It  was  also  on 
the  bluffs  at  Natchez  that  the  Indians  in  olden 
time  kept  the  sacred  tire  ever  burning,  but  which 
went  out  when  the  white  men  came." 

Two  other  great  rivers  besides  the  Missouri 
come  into  the  Mississippi  from  the  west,  the  Ar- 
kansas above  Natchez  and  Vicksburg  and  the  Red 
River  below.  The  Arkansas  comes  all  the  way 
across  the  plains  two  thousand  miles  from  the 
Rocky  Mountains  of  Colorado.  It  is  a  fine  river 
and  is  navigable  to  the  Indian  Territory.  The  Red 
River  is  also  important  for  steamboat  traffic. 
Formerly  a  great  raft  of  drift  wood,  thirty  miles 
long,  obstructed  the  boating  above  Shreveport. 
But  government  engineers  succeeded  in  breaking 
it  up  and  in  opening  up  a  passage  for  boats.  At 
the  time  of  spring  floods  these  rivers  also  add 
their  volume  to  the  Mississippi  and  increase  the 
danger  of  overflow. 

New  Orleans,  the  chief  city  of  the  lower  Mis- 
sissippi, is  built  on  a  great  bend  in  the  river  on 
lowlands  sloping  back  from  the  high  levees.  The 
levee  at  New  Orleans  is  crowded  with  steamboats 
loading  cotton  bales  and  barrels  of  sugar  and  un- 
loading the  cargoes  from  Europe  and  from  the  At- 


148  Special  Method. 

\antic  coast.  Fruits  and  tropical  products  are 
landed  from  the  West  Indies  and  South  America. 
New  Orleans  was  originally  settled  by  the  French 
and  many  French  names  and  families  are  still  met 
with.  The  great  French  market  with  its  sheds  and 
booths,  fruits,  flowers,  and  fish,  is  one  of  the  pecu- 
liar attractions  of  this  metropolis  of  the  South. 
The  cemetery  is  a  beautiful  park  in  which  palm 
trees,  bananas,  magnolias,  and  other  fine  Southern 
trees  abound.  The  graves  are  marble  vaults  built 
above  the  surface,  as  the  ground  is  so  low  and  sat- 
urated with  moisture  that  graves  are  not  dug.  At 
New  Orleans  was  fought  the  famous  battle  at  the 
close  of  the  war  of  1812  in  which  Andrew  Jackson 
defeated  the  British. 

The  commerce  of  New  Orleans  and  of  the  lower 
Mississippi  was  hindered  for  many  years  by  the 
bars  of  mud  formed  at  the  mouths  of  the  river. 
An  examination  of  a  good  map  of  the  river  below 
New  Orleans  will  show  clearly  that  the  water  of 
the  Mississippi  has  carried  down  a  great  deal  of 
mud  and  built  up  new  land  far  out  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  In  forcing  its  way  through  the  mud 
that  has  collected  at  its  mouth  the  main  current 
breaks  up  into  three  channels  called  the  South- 
west Pass,  South  Pass,  and  Pass  a  l'Outre.  The 
flat,  marshy  land  and  water  about  these  three 
mouths  are  known  as  the  delta.  "The  river  at  the 
head  of  the  passes  finds  its  way  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico   through   three  different  channels.      The 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  149 

Southwest  Pass,  the  broadest  and  deepest  of  them 
aii,  trends  to  the  right  and  Pass  a  l'Outre,  the 
next  in  size,  to  the  east,  while  between  these  two 
and  more  directly  in  the  course  of  the  river  is  the 
South  Pass.  The  river  just  above  its  sub-division 
js  a  mile  and  three-quarters  wide,  forty  feet  deep, 
and  carries  every  minute,  when  at  flood,  72,000,- 
000  cubic  feet  of  water  to  the  Gulf.  Every  cubic 
foot  of  this  vast  volume  of  water  contains  nearly 
two  cubic  inches  of  sand  and  mud.  Enough  earth 
matter,  it  is  estimated,  is  annually  thrown  into 
the  Gulf  to  build  a  prism  one  mile  square  and  268 
feet  thick.  At  the  mouth  of  each  pass  is  a  bar, 
over  which  there  is  more  or  less  depth  of  water." 
It  is  not  a  narrow  ridge  of  mud,  but  a  broad,  flat 
bar  of  sand  and  mud  four  or  five  miles  across.  "At 
Southwest  Pass  the  depth  of  water  on  the  bar  is 
about  thirteen  feet,  at  Pass  a  l'Outre  it  is  ten  feet, 
at  South  Pass,  before  the  construction  of  the  jet- 
ties, it  was  eight  feet.  The  crests  of  these  bars 
are  not  immediately  at  the  end  of  the  land,  but 
from  two  and  a  half  to  five  miles  out  in  the  gulf. 
Through  the  whole  length  of  the  passes  there  is  a 
deep  channel  (uniform  for  each  pass)  about  1,200 
to  1,500  feet  wide  in  the  two  large  passes  and  600 
feet  wide  in  South  Pass,  and  the  depths  are  about 
50  feet  in  the  large  passes  and  35  feet  in  the  South 
Pass."  As  the  water  goes  down  through  the 
passes  it  lias  a  swift,  boiling  current  and  scours 
out  a  deep  channel  and  carries  its  mud  and  sand 


JoO  Special  Method. 

with  it.  But  when  the  rushing"  current  reaches 
the  broad,  shallow  expanse  of  water  at  the  mouth, 
it  spreads  out  and  becomes  sluggish  so  that  the 
silt  settles  to  the  bottom.  In  this  way  these 
broad,  flat  bars  are  formed  and  kept  constantly 
extending  into  the  gulf.  In  the  South  Pass 
100  feet  per  annum,  in  Southwest  Pass  over 
300  feet  per  annum,  were  built  up.  These 
shallow  bars  at  the  mouths  of  the  river  were  a 
great  obstruction  to  ships  going  in  and  out. 
Dredging  boats  were  used  constantly  to  deepen 
the  passage  at  Southwest  Pass,  at  an  expense  to 
the  government  of  $250,000  a  year,  but  even  then 
they  could  not  secure  a  depth  of  more  than  eigh- 
teen feet  and  often  less.  All  large  vessels,  there- 
fore, were  hindered  from  passing  the  bars. 

uIn  1859  a  committee  from  the  New  Orleans 
Chamber  of  Commerce  visited  the  Southwest 
Pass,  and  found  the  bar  blocked  with  a  vessel 
while  fiftjr-five  other  vessels  were  waiting  to  come 
in  or  go  out.  Some  of  these  vessels  had  been 
there  for  weeks  waiting  for  a  chance  to  go  to 
sea."  Vessels  of  more  than  700  tons  burden 
could  not  pass  the  bars,  but  the  average  vessels 
of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  carried  from  1,200  to 
1,800  tons. 

It  was  extremely  important  therefore  to  the 
commerce  of  New  Orleans  and  the  South  to  find 
some  means  of  securing-  a  deep  channel  to  the 
gulf. 


(hcHiraphij  for  (he  Fourth  Grade.  151 

In  1*74  Captain  James  B.  Eads  appeared  be- 
fore Congress  at  Washington  with  a  plan  for 
building"  jetties  and  deepening"  the  current  at  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  He  did  not  have  the  means 
for  carding  on  such  an  expensive  undertaking, 
but  he  agreed,  if  Congress  would  furnish  the 
money,  to  secure  a  channel  thirty  feet  deep  and 
to  receive  no  pay  for  his  own  labors  till  this  re- 
sult was  accomplished.  Many  of  the  ablest  en- 
gineers were  directly  opposed  to  Captain  Eads' 
plan,  but  he  explained  his  ideas  so  forcibly  that 
Congress,  in  March,  1875,  passed  a  bill  authoriz- 
ing him  to  make  the  attempt.  Captain  Eads  de- 
sired much  to  make  use  of  the  Southwest  Pass 
because  of  its  greater  depth  and  current,  but  he 
was  compelled  by  Congress  to  make  the  attempt 
in  South  Pass. 

His  general  plan  was  based  on  the  idea  of  let- 
ting the  river  scour  out  its  own  channel  and  even 
cut  a  deep  passage  through  the  bar  beyond  the 
mouth  of  the  pass.  Beginning  at  the  upper  end 
of  South  Pass  he  began  to  build  a  line  of  jetties 
on  each  side  of  the  channel,  forming  thus  new 
banks,  narrowing  the  current  of  water,  compelling 
it  to  flow  faster  and  scour  deeper  the  channel  of 
the  pass.  First  a  row  of  piles  was  driven  down 
along  each  side  of  the  pass,  but  in  the  water  at 
some  distance  from  the  shore.  In  some  places  the 
piles  were  driven  in  water  thirty  feet  deep.  It 
was  found  that  these  piles  formed  a  firm  and  sub- 


152  Special  Method. 

stantial  barrier  against  which  to  build  up  the  jet- 
ties. The  piles  were  driven  into  the  mud  at  the 
bottom  of  the  channel  by  means  of  steam  pile 
drivers.  This  double  row  of  piles  extended  in  a 
curve  along  the  sides  of  the  channel  of  the  South 
Pass  and  across  the  bar  two  and  a  half  miles  be- 
yond to  the  open  waters  of  the  gulf. 

The  jetties  themselves  which  were  built  along 
these  lines  consisted  of  great  willow  mattresses, 
from  twenty-five  to  forty  feet  in  width  and  a 
hundred  feet  long.  "The  jetties  are  constructed 
principally  of  willows.  These  trees  grow  in  great 
abundance  about  twenty-five  miles  up  the  river, 
and  vary  in  size  from  one  to  two  and  a  half  inches 
at  the  butt,  and  from  fifteen  to  thirty  feet  in 
length." 

The  willow  mattresses  were  constructed  by 
Captain  Eads  on  the  following  plan:  "Along  the 
bank  of  the  pass  were  built  inclined  ways  at  right 
angles  to  the  shore  line  and  extending  back  from 
the  river  bank  about  fifty  feet.  The  inclines  are 
so  constructed  that  while  the  ends  of  the  timbers 
are  under  water  at  the  river  they  are  about  six 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  water  at  the  other  or 
shore  end.  These  timbers  are  spaced  about  six 
feet  apart,  and  are  parallel  with  each  other. 
Boards  below  hold  these  timbers  firmly  in  place. 
The  ways  are  now  ready  for  the  mattresses  which 
are  built  in  the  following  manner:  Long  strips 
i)f   board,  two   and   a    half   inches  thick  and  six 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  163 

inches  wide  and  from  twenty-five  to  forty  feet 
long",  are  laid  across  the  slanting"  timbers,  and 
spliced  together  until  about  a  hundred  feet  long. 
If  the  mattress  is  to  be  forty  feet  wide  nine  strips 
are  used  and  five  feet  apart.  Holes  are  bored 
in  these  strips  one  and  one-eighth  inches  in 
diameter  and  five  feet  apart.  Hickory  pins  whose 
ends  have  been  turned  to  fit  the  holes  tightly  are 
driven  into  these  and  wedged  and  nailed  tightly. 
The  pins  stick  up  about  thirty  inches  long.  Some 
of  the  workmen  now  climb  upon  the  willow-barge 
and  pass  the  willows  down  to  the  other  workmen, 
standing  on  the  frame,  who  place  the  willows  in 
a  layer  about  six  inches  deep  across  the  strips  of 
the  frame.  Then  a  second  layer  of  willows  is 
placed  at  right  angles  to  the  first,  and  so  on  till 
the  willows  stand  above  the  tops  of  the  pins. 

In  placing  the  willows  the  bushy  tops  project 
three  or  four  feet  beyond  the  frame.  The  men 
then  bore  holes  in  other  strips  about  forty  feet 
long-,  and  place  them  across  the  mattress,  and 
insert  the  pins  into  the  holes,  pressing  down  the 
cross  strips  with  levers.  Wedges  and  pins  are 
driven  into  the  ends  of  the  pins,  and  the  mattress 
is  done  and  ready  for  launching".  The  mattress  is 
easily  pulled  off  the  ways  by  means  of  a  steam 
tug",  which  tows  it  to  its  place  along  the  jetty 
piling".  A  barge,  loaded  with  rock,  is  then  placed 
alongside  the  floating  mattress,  and  the  stone  dis- 
tributed evenly  over  it  until  it  sinks  to  the  bot- 


154  Special  Method. 

torn.  The  foundation  mattress  is  usually  from 
forty  to  fifty  feet  wide,  according*  to  the  depth  of 
the  water.  The  courses  above  it  become  narrower 
and  narrower  until  they  reach  the  surface  of  the 
water,  where  the  average  width  is  twenty-five 
feet.  When  the  mattresses  are  sunk  into  the 
river  all  the  interstices  fill  very  quickly  with  sed- 
iment, which  serves  not  only  to  hold  it  more 
securely  in  place,  but  makes  it  much  more  imper- 
vious to  water."  A  row  of  these  mattress  jetties 
was  thus  built  on  each  side  of  the  channel  of 
South  Pass,  narrowing  it  to  about  1,000  feet. 

"When  the  jetties  were  nearly  constructed,  it 
was  decided  to  build  temporary  spurs  or  wing 
dams  at  right  angles  to  the  jetties,  extending 
into  the  channel  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 
These  wing  dams  narrowed  the  channel  from  a 
thousand  to  about  seven  hundred  feet.  The  ob- 
jects in  constructing  these  wing  dams  were:  first, 
to  locate  the  deep  water  channel  midway  between 
the  jetties;  second,  to  hasten  the  channel  develop- 
ment; third,  to  induce  a  deposit  of  sediment  and 
an  incipient  bank  formation  along  the  channel 
side  of  the  jetties.  These  wing  dams  were  spaced 
about  six  hundred  feet  apart.  They  were  built  by 
driving  a  row  of  piles  out  from  the  jetty  line  and 
resting  the  mattress  against  them,  placing  it  on 
edge." 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  was  to  produce 
a  deep  channel  through  a  large  shoal  at  the  head 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  155 

of  South  Pass.  In  order  to  produce  a  current 
into  South  Pass  strong-  enough  to  scour  out  a 
channel  through  this  shoal,  dikes  and  dams  were 
run  up  from  the  head  of  South  Pass  to  raise  the 
water  and  secure  a  more  rapid  fall.  At  first  the 
result  was  to  turn  the  water  into  the  other  passes, 
but  great  wing  dams  of  mattresses  were  built 
across  the  channels  of  both  larger  passes  which 
had  the  effect  of  raising  the  water  in  all  the 
passes  and  in  giving  such  a  rapid  flow  through  the 
shoal  as  to  scour  out  a  channel  forty  feet  deep. 

From  the  very  beginning  of  the  jetty  building 
the  effect  could  be  seen  in  South  Pass  by  a  deepen- 
ing of  the  channel.  As  the  jetties  progressed  to- 
ward the  bar  the  channel  across  the  bar  gradually 
deepened  from  mouth  to  mouth.  From  May, 
1875,  to  July,  1879,  the  work  went  steadily  for- 
ward. At  the  end  of  this  time  there  was  a  chan- 
nel thirty  feet  deep  from  the  deep  water  in  the 
river  to  the  deep  Water  in  the  gulf.  It  was  700 
feet  wide  at  the  surface  and  200  feet  wide  at  the 
bottom.  To  form  this  channel  through  the  bar 
required  the  removal  of  5,500,000  cubic  yards  of 
material  which  has  been  washed  out  by  the  cur- 
rent into  the  gulf.  Captain  Eads  also  constructed 
a  very  large  dredge-boat  which  was  used  to  help 
deepen  the  channel  in  a  few  of  the  shallow 
places. 

"At  the  outer  end  of  the  jetties,  where  they 
projected  beyond  the  bar  into  the  gulf,  there  was 


15G  fecial  Method. 

danger  that  the  violent  storms  which  beat  against 
these  shores  at  some  seasons,  would  destroy  the 
works.  To  prevent  this,  a  heavy  line  of  stone 
and  concrete  was  built  out  along-  the  jetties. 

"At  distances  of  every  fifty  feet  near  the  outer 
end  of  the  work  are  built  spur  cribs,  about  twenty 
feet  square,  filled  with  rock,  upon  which  a  solid 
concrete  block  is  built.  Flanking  the  work  at  the 
extreme  sea  end  are  massive  cribs  of  palmetto 
logs,  filled  with  riprap  and  surmounted  with 
larger  rock." 

The  success  of  this  great  enterprise  brought 
good  not  only  to  New  Orleans  but  to  the  whole 
Mississippi  valley.  It  is  estimated  'that  the  jet- 
ties, by  partially  improving  the  channel  of  the 
river,  saved  the  country  $1,600,000  during  the  year 
ending  September  1,  1878,  by  the  reduction  in 
freights  on  cotton  alone. 

Before  leaving  the  study  of  the  Mississippi 
valley,  the  whole  river  with  its  tributaries  should 
be  sketched,  the  different  producing  regions  lo- 
cated, the  chief  marts  pointed  out  and  compared, 
the  contrasts  of  climate  and  production  noted, 
and  the  different  kinds  of  populations  and  of 
occupations  clearly  perceived.  This  extensive 
valley,  with  its  network  of  rivers  and  variety  of 
producing  regions,  is  a  great,  complex  type  of  a 
river  valley  with  which  to  compare  other  great 
river  valleys  of  the  world. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  lf>7 

Cotton  and  the  Cotton  Plantations. 

Cotton  was  a  native  plant,  used  by  the  Indians 
for  making  cloth  in  Mexico  when  Columbus  first 
came.  The  sea-island  cotton  came  from  Hon- 
duras, and  the  cotton  plant  of  the  Southern  States 
probably  from  Mexico. 

In  many  of  the  southern  states,  like  Mississippi, 
Alabama,  and  Texas,  cotton  is  the  one  great  and 
important  crop.  The  large  plantations  are  almost 
exclusively  devoted  to  raising  cotton.  When  a 
good  crop  is  sold  at  fair  prices  it  enables  the 
planter  to  purchase  all  the  necessaries  and  com- 
forts of  life,  but  if  the  crop  fails  the  planter  is 
brought  almost  to  ruin.  The  growth  of  cotton - 
raising  in  the  South  is  remarkable. 

In  1820  the  entire  crop  of  the  United  States 
was  455,000  bales.  In  1891-2  it  was  9,035,379 
bales,  of  which  65  per  cent  was  exported,  valued 
at  nearly  225,000,000  of  dollars.  Texas  had  2,400,- 
000  bales,  and  next  Mississippi,  Georgia,  Alabama, 
Arkansas,  Louisiana,  South  Carolina,  Tennessee, 
and  North  Carolina,  in  order.  Also,  4,500,000 
tons  of  cotton  seed  were  used.  The  oil  from  cot- 
ton seed  is  pressed  out  and  much  employed  instead 
of  olive  oil  for  table  use,  for  soap  making,  etc. 

A  good  description  of  a  large  cotton  planta- 
tion in  the  South  would  give  us  one  of  the  most 
interesting  and  characteristic  pictures  of  south- 
ern life.      The  residence  of   the  planter,  with  its 


158  Special  Method. 

broad  verandas,  stands  in  the  midst  of  his  extensive 
fields.  The  barns  and  gin  houses  are  near  at  hand 
and  the  log  huts  or  cottages  of  the  negro  laborers. 
The  work  of  raising"  and  gathering  the  cotton  crop 
lasts  from  early  springtime  till  the  frosts  of  autumn 
and  then  follows  the  ginning  and  shipping. 

The  ground  is  plowed  in  March  in  preparation 
for  the  cotton  crop,  and  the  planting  begins  in 
April.  The  rows  are  placed  three  feet  apart  in 
hilly  ground,  and  four  and  one- half  or  five  feet 
apart  in  rich  bottom  land,  where  the  plant  grows 
larger.  The  seed  is  put  in  with  a  drill,  quite 
thick,  but  after  it  is  up  a  few  inches  it  is  thinned 
out  so  that  the  single  stalks  stand  a  foot  or  a  foot 
and  a  half  apart,  according  to  the  richness  of  the 
soil.  A  plow  is  run  between  the  rows  and  the 
dirt  is  hilled  up  along  the  stalks.  Until  some 
time  in  July  the  fields  are  cultivated  with  plow  or 
cultivator  and  then  the  long  rows  are  hilled 
up  for  the  last  time.  Good  showers  once  in  two 
weeks,  and  warm  weather  are  needed  to  produce 
a  good  crop.  Too  much  dry  weather  or  too  much 
rain  spoil  the  crop.  Early  and  late  frosts  are 
also  a  damage  to  the  cotton  plants. 

There  are  three  kinds  of  worms  that  often  de- 
stroy the  cotton  plants;  the  cut- worm  eats  off  the 
young  sprout  down  to  the  root,  the  boll-worm 
gets  into  the  cotton  boll  and  destroys  the  cotton, 
and,  worst  of  all,  the  army-worm  comes  in  August, 
and  strips  the  plant  of  leaves  and  cotton  boils, 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  159 

"The  growth  of  the  cotton  plant  is  rapid.  The 
sprout  appears  within  a  week  after  seeding  and 
by  June  the  flowers  come  out;  white  on  the  first 
day,  red  on  the  second,  and  on  the  third  falling 
off,  leaving  in  their  place  the  tiny  boll  in  which 
lie  the  hopes  of  the  planter.  If  all  goes  well,  this 
grows  larger  until  ripe,  when  it  opens  and  the 
cotton  hangs  out.  The  opening  process  lasts  un- 
til the  first  sharp  frost  kills  the  plant,  which,  in 
a  late  crop,  may  happen  before  half  of  the  bolls 
are  ripe.  Generally  a  field  is  well  opened  by  late 
August  or  early  September  and  then  the  pickers 
begin  work.  Early  in  the  morning  the  farm  wagon 
is  driven  into  the  field  road,  loaded  with  a  stock 
of  bags,  which  are  scattered  along  in  piles;  each 
picker  ties  one  by  a  strap  over  his  shoulder,  so  as 
to  bring  the  mouth  of  the  bag  under  his  arm,  and, 
with  the  other  end  trailing  on  the  ground,  starts 
in  between  the  rows,  snatching  the  cotton  out  of 
the  bolls  and  thrusting  it  into  the  bag  till  filled, 
when  he  drags  it  back  to  the  road,  takes  an  empty 
one,  and  starts  again  into  the  field.  The  quick- 
ness with  which  a  skillful  picker  will  strip  a  plant 
is  astonishing;  when  the  cotton  is  not  too  scatter- 
ing he  will  get  nearly  two  hundred  pounds  a  day, 
and  none  but  those  who  have  tried  the  experiment 
of  picking  cotton  know  what  this  means.  These 
field  hands  are  paid  at  the  rate  of  from  fifty  to 
seventy-five  cents  per  hundred  pounds.  Both  old 
and  young  take  part  in  the  work  and  alike  will 


160  Special  Method. 

bear  sunshine  and  heat  with  no  sign  of  fatigue  or 
distress;  but  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  them 
into  the  field  if  the  weather  becomes  damp  and 
chilly." 

The  loads  of  sacks  are  brought  to  the  gin 
house  or  place  where  the  cotton  fibres  are  sep- 
arated from  the  seeds.  Before  the  invention  of 
the  cotton  gin  it  kept  one  person  busy  a  day  to 
separate  a  pound  of  cotton  from  the  seed.  But 
after  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin  three  hun- 
dred pounds  could  be  separated  in  a  single  day  by 
a  single  machine.  The  story  of  Whitney's  diffi- 
culties and  successful  invention  will  be  found  in  a 
good  cyclopedia  or  history.  The  gin  itself  has  a 
revolving  cylinder  with  nine-inch  saws  half  an 
inch  apart;  each  saw  passes  between  parallel 
wires  seizing  the  threads  or  fibres  of  cotton  and 
pulling  them  through  but  leaving  the  seed;  quickly 
revolving  brushes  sweep  the  cotton  from  the 
teeth  of  the  saws  and  a  blast  of  air  drives  the 
cotton  to  a  condenser  and  cleanses  it  of  dust. 
The  cotton  room  of  the  gin-house  is  an  interesting 
place  with  its  great  piles  of  snow-white  cotton. 

Before  shipping,  the  cotton  is  piled  into  a  heavy 
press,  wrapped  in  a  stout  bagging,  tightly  pressed, 
and  narrow  strips  of  iron  clasped  round  the  bale 
and  fastened.  This  is  the  press  room,  and  the 
workmen  are  grotesquely  covered  with  cotton,  as 
in  the  gin  house.  The  cotton  bales,  weighing  five 
or  six  hundred  pounds,  are  hauled  to  the  steam- 


Geography  for  Utc  Fourth  Grade.  161 

boat  landing  where  the  stops  are  regularly  made 
D}'  the  steamboats  to  take  off  the  cotton.  It  is 
then  carried  to  New  Orleans  or  Memphis,  whence 
it  is  shipped  by  water  or  by  railroad  to  the  eastern 
factories. 

The  cotton  seeds  were  formerly  of  no  use,  but 
now  they  are  put  into  presses  where  the  oil  is 
squeezed  out,  and,  when  purified,  it  is  much  used 
in  soap  making  and  instead  of  olive  oil.  The  cot- 
ton seed  cake,  which  is  left  after  the  oil  is 
pressed   out   is  also  used  as  a  fodder  for  cattle. 

The  great  cotton  manufacturing  cities  are  in 
New  England,  such  as  Fall  River  and  Lowell. 
Much  of  the  raw  cotton  is  shipped  to  Boston  and 
New  York,  whence  it  is  sent  to  the  mills.  More  than 
half  of  all  the  cotton  is  exported  to  England  and 
Europe  to  be  used  in  their  factories  and  then  sent 
out  over  the  world.  In  recent  years  a  number  of 
factories  have  been  established  in  southern  cities, 
as  at  Richmond,  Atlanta.  Columbia,  etc.,  where 
the  cotton  can  be  manufactured  into  cloth  without 
shipping  the  cotton. 

The  cotton  belt  stretches  from  North  Carolina 
to  Texas,  and  from  Kentucky  to  the  gulf.  The 
climate  is  hot  and  negroes  perform  most  of  the 
field  work.  The  planters  engaged  in  the  cotton 
production  depend  upon  the  sale  of  cotton  for 
everything  with  which  to  carry  on  the  work  of 
the  plantation.  They  scarcely  raise  the  corn  and 
vegetables  necessary  for  plantation   use.     When 


162  Special  Method. 

the  price  of  cotton  is  low,  or  a  bad  crop  comes, 
they  often  have  to  run  in  debt  or  sell  their  farms. 

The  chief  cities  where  cotton  is  collected  and 
shipped  are  Galveston,  New  Orleans,  Memphis, 
Charleston,  Savannah,  Norfolk,  and  .New  York. 
The  railroads  have  now  become  very  important  in 
shipping  cotton.  Reference  Scribner's  Monthly, 
1874. 

Since  the  war  the  cotton  planters  of  the  South 
have  had  great  difficulty  in  making-  the  business 
pay.  The  negro  laborers  are  not  so  easily  con- 
trolled as  when  they  were  slaves,  wages  are  high, 
and  many  rich  lands  in  Texas  and  Arkansas  have 
been  planted  in  cotton,  so  that  there  has  been 
over-production  of  cotton  and  low  prices.  The 
cotton-planters  have  been  urged  to  raise  other 
crops,  as  corn,  vegetables,  grain  and  fruit,  and  to 
feed  hogs  and  cattle  for  their  own  meat  supply;  but 
they  have  been  slow  to  adopt  a  variety  of  crops 
and  have  depended  too  much  on  cotton.  The  old 
cotton  plantations,  many  of  them,  have  lost  their 
productiveness  because  there  was  no  proper  rota- 
tion of  crops,  and  the  negroes,  who  are  fitted  to 
do  most  of  the  work,  have  not  yet  learned  to  be 
thrifty  and  industrious. 

Irrigation  and  the  Big  Ditch  at  Denver. 

The  city  of  Denver  lies  in  the  valley  of  the 
South  Fork  of  the  Platte  River  about  twenty-two 
miles  northeast  of  the  point  at  which  the  river 


Geography  for  tfu   Fourth  Grade.  Ifi3 

emerges  from  the  foot-hills  and  starts  northeast- 
ward across  the  plains  to  join  the  north  fork  of 
the  Platte  and  move  eastward  to  the  Missouri. 
About  twelve  years  ago  the  big-  irrigating-  ditch 
was  dug  so  as  to  draw  its  waters  from  the 
south  fork  of  the  Platte  and  distribute  them 
along  the  gentle  slope  southeast  of  the  river. 
About  forty  miles  south  of  Denver  is  a  plateau 
extending  out  from  the  mountains  into  the 
plains  and  forming  a  divide  or  water-shed 
between  the  Arkansas  on  the  south  and  the 
Platte  on  the  north.  For  many  miles,  therefore, 
the  plains  slope  gently  from  the  divide  toward  the 
northwest  down  to  the  south  fork  of  the  Platte. 
This  gently  sloping  plain  is  a  part  of  the  region 
known  as  "the  Plains,"  lying  just  east  of  the  Rocky 
Mountains.  It  is  a  dry,  treeless  land  with  a  scanty 
grass  and  cactus  growth.  The  soil  is  sandy  but 
rich  and,  if  well  supplied  with  water,  produces 
excellent  crops  of  grain,  grass,  and  vegetables. 
But  the  rainfall  for  the  whole  year  is  very  light 
and  cannot  be  depended  upon  for  crops,  while 
even  the  thin  buffalo  grass  will  feed  only  a  small 
part  of  the  stock  of  one  of  our  meadows  of  equal 
area.  The  early  settlers  in  Colorado  were  either 
miners  or  grazers  and  stockmen.  But  as  cities  and 
towns  sprung  up  along  the  mountains,  agriculture 
along  the  river  valleys  began  to  attract  attention 
and  the  water  was  drawn  out  from  the  rivers  and 
streams  into  ditches  to  irrigate  the  growing  crops. 


164  Special  Method. 

The  first  ditches  were  small  and  were  taken  out 
by  a  few  farmers  whose  land  lay  in  the  bottoms 
and  near  the  rivers.  Some  twenty  years  ago  a 
larger  ditch,  called  the  City  Ditch,  was  taken  from 
the  river  at  Littleton,  ten  miles  south  of  Denver, 
and  carried  along  the  slope  back  from  the  river 
toward  Denver.  It  passed  just  east  of  the  city 
and  along  the  plain  above,  so  that  its  water  was 
drawn  off  not  only  for  farms  but  to  run  through 
the  streets  of  Denver  to  water  gardens  and  the 
Cottonwood  and  maple  and  other  trees  which 
shaded  the  streets  of  the  city. 

With  the  great  increase  in  population  at 
Denver  and  all  along  the  mountains,  in  mining 
towns,  the  demand  for  agricultural  products 
became  greater,  and  as  they  had  to  be  shipped 
from  Kansas  or  Utah,  three  or  four  hundred 
miles,  the  impulse  became  strong  to  bring  much 
larger  territories  under  the  irrigating  canals. 
About  fifteen  years  ago  a  wealthy  company 
secured  the  privilege  of  constructing  a  great 
irrigating  ditch  so  as  to  bring  in  a  large  part 
of  the  southeast  slope  of  the  Platte  river  un- 
der water,  and  thus  open  up  a  strip  of  irrigation 
many  miles  long  and  from  two  to  twenty  miles 
wide. 

In  order  to  get  the  water  at  a  high  level  and  thus 
carry  it  as  far  back  upon  the  plains  as  possible,  a 
dam  was  built  in  the  river  three  or  four  miles  up 
the  cafion,  which  the  river  has  cut  through  the 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  165 

mountains  before  coming-  out  into  the  plain.  A 
heavy  framework  of  timbers  was  built  across  the 
stream  and  boarded  up  so  as  to  make  a  solid  dam, 
and  from  it  boards  were  sloped  down  on  the  lower 
side  over  which  the  excess  of  water  flowed.  The 
big  ditch  was  taken  out  of  the  river  from  the  side 
of  the  dam  much  as  a  mill  race  is  taken  from  a 
stream.  A  way  was  made  for  this  artificial  canal 
along"  the  canon  three  or  four  miles  till  the  mouth 
was  reached.  But  the  canon  is  narrow  in  places 
and  crooked,  and  lined  with  mountains  from  five 
hundred  to  one  thousand  feet  high.  In  one  place 
it  was  necessary  to  cut  a  tunnel  out  of  solid  rock 
five  hundred  feet  through  a  spur  of  a  mountain, 
through  which  the  canal  flows.  In  several  places 
where  the  canon  is  narrow  and  the  sides  steep, 
with  rocky  cliffs,  a  great  wooden  trough  was 
built  along"  the  side  of  the  mountain  and  sup- 
ported by  heavy  braces,  and  the  water  carried 
through  this.  As  the  descent  of  the  river  is  much 
more  rapid  than  that  of  the  canal,  at  the  point 
where  the  river  and  canal  emerge  from  the  moun- 
tain, the  canal  is  twenty  or  more  feet  higher  than 
the  current  of  the  river.  At  this  point  the  canal 
diverges  from  the  river,  and  is  carried  back  as  far 
as  its  elevation,  and  a  gentle  slope  so  as  to  pro- 
duce a  current,  will  allow. 

After  the  canal  is  brought  out  of  the  foot  hills 
and  away  from  rough,  hilly  country  near  them  to 
the  more  regular  slope  of  the  plain  we  may  get  a 


liifi  Special  Method. 

more  accurate  notion  of  its  size.  The  digging-  of 
this  great  ditch  required  the  work  of  hundreds 
of  men  with  horses,  scrapers,  and  other  machines. 
The  canal  is  forty  feet  wide  at  the  bottom  and 
seven  feet  deep  when  the  water  is  turned  on.  The 
dirt  as  it  was  taken  out  was  thrown  mostly  upon 
the  lower  side  toward  the  river,  so  as  to  form  an 
embankment  on  that  side.  In  many  places  the 
dirt  was  piled  up  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high,  and 
the  cuts  resembled  a  great  railroad  cut,  only 
wider.  The  work  of  excavation  was  carried  on 
for  months  along-  this  line  with  many  men  who 
lived  in  tents  and  with  much  expenditure  of 
capital. 

A  number  of  ravines  and  gullies  had  to  be 
crossed  as  the  ditch  was  extended.  From  the 
high  divide  streams  of  water  come  rushing  down 
to  the  Platte  in  the  rainy  season.  During  most 
of  the  summer  these  gulches  are  dry.  Cherry 
Creek,  which  enters  the  Platte  at  Denver,  is  a 
large  stream  in  the  rainy  season  but  nearly  dry 
during  the  summer.  Its  valley  is  half  a  mile 
wide  and  twelve  to  twenty  feet  below  the  level  of 
the  plain.  The  big  ditch  had  to  be  carried  across 
all  these  gullies  and  valleys.  Generally  the 
ditch  is  brought  to  the  edge  of  the  valley  and 
carried  over  a  large  wooden  trough  to  the  other 
side.  This  trough  or  flume  must  be  deep  and 
wide  enough  to  carry  the  full  stream  of  water.  It 
is  built  upon  piles  and  wooden  trestles  like  a  rail 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  KIT 

road  bridge.  The  seams  and  cracks  between  the 
boards  are  calked  up  so  as  to  cause  as  little  leak- 
age as  possible. 

In  some  places  dams  are  built  across  the  val- 
lej\s  and  the  water  run  in  so  as  to  form  a  large 
lake  or  reservoir  extending"  some  distance  back 
up  the  valley.  Sometimes  the  water  is  run  onto 
tracts  of  low  level  land  and  a  bank  extended 
along  the  lower  side,  forming  a  shallow  lake. 
These  reservoirs  are  filled  with  water  during  the 
rainy  season  when  the  showers  fall  in  April  and 
the  snows  melt  on  the  mountains.  At  this  season 
the  rivers  are  usually  flooded  for  a  short  period 
and  an  immense  amount  of  water  escapes  down 
the  river  unless  it  is  stored  up  in  the  reservoirs. 
If  stored  up  it  will  prove  very  valuable  later  dur- 
ing the  long  dry  summer  when  there  are  few  or  no 
rains.  The  mountains  are  the  original  reservoirs 
of  moisture.  Much  more  snow  and  rain  fall  in 
the  mountains  than  on  the  plains.  The  cold 
mountain  sides  attract  the  clouds  and  moisture 
and  it  is  condensed  into  rain  and  snow.  The 
mountain  peaks  have  frequent  rain  storms  and 
snows  when  no  moisture  falls  upon  the  plains. 
The  forests  and  other  vegetation  in  the  mountains 
also  help  to  hold  the  snow  and  moisture.  But  in 
spite  of  all  this  the  rivers  do  not  furnish  enough 
water  to  supply  all  the  ditches  taken  from  the 
river.  The  best  way  to  increase  the  water  supply 
so  as  to  be  able  to  irrigate  large  tracts  of  country 


168  Special  Method. 

is  to  collect  in  reservoirs  the  waters  which  are  so 
abundant  at  the  time  of  the  spring  freshets. 

When  the  biijf  ditch  has  been  liberally  supplied 
with  water,  it  can  be  drawn  off  through  wooden 
boxing's  to  irrigate  the  separate  fields.  Usually  a 
larger  boxing  lets  out  enough  water  to  form  quite 
a  good  sized  ditch,  from  two, to  six  feet  across. 
This  may  skirt  the  edges  of  a  number  of  farms, 
and  from  it  the  water  is  turned  off  in  smaller 
channels  still  to  the  separate  farms  and  fields. 
The  boxing  through  which  the  water  escapes  from 
the  main  ditch  passes  under  the  embankment  on 
the  lower  side.  At  one  end  it  is  below  the  level 
of  the  water  in  the  ditch;  at  the  other  end  is  an 
upright  slide  or  board,  which  by  being  lifted  lets 
out  the  water,  or  by  dropping  it  and  throwing 
loose  dirt  about  it  in  the  boxing  the  flow  of  water 
is  stopped.  Regular  officers,  or  water  inspec- 
tors, are  appointed  by  the  ditch  company  to  pass 
along  the  ditches  daily  and  regulate  the  amount 
of  water  sent  out  to  the  different  farms,  to  keep 
watch  of  the  ditch,  reservoirs,  banks,  and  flumes 
and  see  that  all  are  kept  in  good  repair.  Some- 
times, in  case  of  rains  and  freshets,  there  is  danger 
that  the  ditch  may  fill  up  and  overrun  its  banks, 
thus  wasting  the  water  and  ruining  the  crops.  In 
such  cases  the  water  is  often  turned  out  at  the 
flumes  and  allowed  to  run  down  the  valleys  to 
the  Platte. 

The  fields  are  irrigated  in  different  ways.     A 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  1.69 

wheat  field  or  meadow  is  sometimes  flooded,  that 
is,  the  water  turned  on  till  the  whole  area  has  been 
overflowed  and  soaked.  In  a  cornfield  the  water 
is  often  run  down  a  small  stream  between  each 
two  rows  and  allowed  to  soak  into  the  ground  till 
all  is  moistened.  When  sufficient  moisture  is  se- 
cured, the  mouth  of  the  ditch  is  closed  up  with  a 
shovel  of  dirt,  and  for  a  week  or  two,  perhaps,  the 
ground  may  not  be  flooded  again.  Most  of  the  land 
slopes  so  regularly  and  evenly  toward  the  river 
that  it  is  possible  to  irrigate  it  all  and  not  allow 
the  soil  to  wash  down. 

The  ditch  company  usually  sell  the  water  to  the 
farmers  by  the  inch,  the  amount  of  water  passing 
through  a  hole  an  inch  square  being  sufficient  to 
irrigate  an  acre.  The  cost  of  an  inch  of  water  is 
from  #1.50  to  #2.50  an  inch.  If  the  ditch  company 
owns  the  land  it  is  leased  at  a  rental  for  water 
rights.  The  ditch  company,  having  spent  large 
sums  of  money  in  constructing  the  ditch,  must 
get  its  reward  in  the  form  of  water  rent  from  the 
farmers. 

The  effect  of  bringing  a  district  of  country 
under  irrigation  is  very  striking.  Fields  of  grain, 
meadows  of  alfalfa,  and  other  grasses,  corn,  and 
vegetables  grow  in  abundance.  The  country  that 
once  had  much  the  appearance  of  a  desert  is 
clothed  with  varieties  of  green.  Shade  trees  and 
orchards  are  planted  and  thrive,  houses  and  barns 
built,  and  the  whole  country  takeson  much  of  the 


170  Special  Method. 

appearance  of  a  blooming-  Illinois  prairie  in 
spring  time.  The  whole  ground  becomes  so  sat- 
urated with  moisture  that  wells  are  dug  and 
supply  abundance  of  water  so  long  as  the  water 
in  the  ditch  remains.  In  the  fall  and  winter  the 
ditches  are  usually  allowed  to  run  dry,  as  the 
water  is  not  needed.  Land  lying  below  the  level 
of  the  ditch  becomes  worth  forty  or  fifty  dollars 
per  acre,  while  just  as  good  land  above  the  level 
of  the  ditch  and  perhaps  only  a  few  rods  away  is 
not  worth  more  than  five  or  six  dollars  an  acre 
for  grazing  purposes.  Of  course  roads  are 
opened  and  bridges  across  the  ravines  are  built, 
and  the  markets  of  Denver  and  other  towns  sup- 
plied with  abundance  of  vegetables,  small  fruit, 
and  grain.  It  is  claimed  by  those  who  farm  by 
irrigation  that  it  is  a  more  reliable  and  satis- 
factory method  than  farming  in  Illinois  or  Iowa 
where  dependence  must  be  placed  upon  the  natural 
rain  fall.  Sometimes  the  rains  do  not  come; 
sometimes  they  are  too  abundant  and  they  are 
not  sufficiently  regular;  but  in  a  country  culti- 
vated by  irrigation  the  water  can  be  turned  on 
when  needed  and  in  the  quantity  desired.  The 
abundant  sunshine  also  helps  to  ripen  the  fruits 
better,  gives  them  a  better  color  and  flavor. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  can  be  said  that  only  a 
small  part  of  the  Western  country  can  ever  be 
irrigated,  as  there  are  not  sufficient  rivers  nor 
supplies  of  water  for  the  needs. 


fiinijriipliii  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  171 

There  is  also  constant  conflict  as  to  water 
rights.  The  old  ditches  first  taken  out  have  the 
prior  claim  upon  the  water.  According-  to  the  law 
they  have  the  first  claim.  The  big  ditch  at  Denver, 
though  taken  out  much  higher  up  the  river,  is 
not  allowed  to  take  so  much  water  as  to  leave  the 
old  ditches  further  down  the  stream  without  sup- 
plies. But  it  is  very  difficult  to  regulate  such  a 
thing  as  flowing  water  and  do  justice  to  all  par- 
ties. 

The  northeast  slope  of  the  Platte  River  is 
supplied  with  water  in  a  different  way.  Quite  a 
number  of  small  streams  come  down  out  of  the 
mountains  and  foot  hills  and  move  eastward 
across  the  slope  to  join  the  Platte.  Between  the 
river  and  the  mountains  at  Denver,  this  rich  level 
or  rolling  plain  is  about  ten  miles  wide,  and  is  a 
garden  of  beauty  and  abundance.  These  small 
mountain  streams  are  dammed  up  at  favorable 
points  so  as  to  form  ponds  or  lakes;  from  one  of 
these  reservoirs  the  water  can  be  carried  in  small 
ditches  to  the  level  fields  a  little  lower  down.  As 
one  stands  on  the  mountain,  fifteen  hundred  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  plain,  he  can  count  scores 
of  these  small  artificial  lakes  which  preserve  the 
abundance  of  water  of  the  spring  season  for  the 
use  of  the  farmers  in  summer  time. 

It  is  a  matter  of  much  importance  to  the  farm- 
ers along  the  river  valleys  that  the  forests  in  the 
mountain  slopes  be  preserved  so  that  the  snows 


172  Special  Method. 

and  rains  may  be  kept  in  reserve  along"  these  slopes. 
All  through  the  mountains  the  woodsmen  and  the 
saw-mills  have  been  at  work  cutting-  out  the  best 
pine  timber  for  use  in  building:  It  is  quite  im- 
portant that  the  forests  be  preserved,  and  the 
springs  in  the  mountains  be  kept  flowing.  It  is 
also  well  to  encourage  the  grasses  and  grass  lands 
upon  the  mountain  slopes  and  in  the  valleys,  as 
they,  too,  help  to  keep  the  mountains  a  perma- 
nent reservoir  of  the  rains  and  snows. 

An  examination  of  a  large  map  will  show  how 
many  streams  there  are  flowing  eastward  from 
the  Rocky  Mountains  across  the  plains  that  may 
be  found  useful  for  the  purposes  of  irrigation. 
Even  such  a  large  stream  as  the  Arkansas  has 
been  used  very  extensive^  for  the  purpose  of 
supplying  large  irrigating  ditches.  The  upper 
valley  of  the  Rio  Grande  is  a  beautiful  and  fruit- 
ful region,  made  so  by  irrigation. 

It  may  be  well  also  to  study  the  map,  not  only 
locating  the  principal  rivers  and  their  tributaries 
flowing  down  to  the  plains,  but  notice  also  the 
line  in  Central  Kansas  and  Nebraska  which  sep- 
arates the  arid  region  of  the  West  from  the  prai- 
ries and  rainy  country  to  the  east,  where  crops 
may  be  raised  without  artificial  means. 

A  line  drawn  through  Central  Kansas  and 
Nebraska  from  north  to  south  on  the  100th  meri- 
dian would  fairly  separate  the  arid  region  of  the 
West  from  the  rainy  regions  of  the  East. 


Geoijrapliy  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  173 

it  nmy  be  noticed  briefly  here,  also,  that  most 
of  the  Western  states  and  territories  must  depend 
in  the  future  for  their  agricultural  development 
upon  irrigation.  The  fruitful  valleys  of  Utah  and 
California  depend  upon  this  means  of  supplying 
moisture  to  the  fields. 

In  some  of  the  states,  like  Dakota,  resort  has 
been  had  to  artesian  wells,  and  this  method  may 
fairly  be  compared  with  the  other  means  of  sup- 
plying" water  to  the  growing  crop. 

The  study  of  irrigation  as  given  in  the  preced- 
ing sketch,  not  only  gives  an  insight  into  the 
methods  of  agriculture  in  nearly  half  of  our  own 
domain,  but  it  will  be  found  very  helpful  in  ex- 
plaining similar  conditions  and  agriculture  in 
Africa,  in  Mexico,  and  in  Central  and  Western 
Asia,  where  the  water  from  rivers  is  and  has  been 
so  much  used  in  aiding  the  cultivation  of  the  soil. 

Pike's  Peak  and  Vicinity. 
Pike's  Peak  is  the  central  mountain  of  a  group 
or  cluster  of  mountains  which  together  constitute 
a  spur  of  the  main  chain  of  the  Rockies,  extending 
eastward  into  the  great  plain.  For  this  reason 
Pike's  Peak  was  first  seen  by  the  emigrant  trains 
coming  from  the  east,  and  is  still  one  of  tht 
prominent  landmarks  for  those  traveling  toward 
the  Rocky  Mountains.  It  is  surrounded  by  other 
peaks  and  ridges  which  rise  far  up  into  the  clear 
sky    of    Colorado,   but   all    are    dwarfed    by    the 


174  Special  Method. 

greater  altitude  of  the  central  peak.  It  is  about 
seventy  miles  south  of  Denver,  and  its  snow-cov- 
ered summit  can  be  clearly  seen  from  Denver 
nearly  every  day  in  the  year.  Except  on  cloudy 
or  foggy  days,  which  are  rare  in  Colorado,  it  can 
be  seen  as  plainly  as  if  it  were  only  ten  miles 
away.  Fifty  miles  to  the  south  of  it  is  Pueblo, 
the  city  of  smelters  on  the  Arkansas,  eastward 
of  the  Royal  Gorge,  where  the  river  breaks 
through  the  mountain  ridge.  Pike's  Peak  stands, 
therefore,  like  a  huge  sentinel,  with  the  wilder- 
ness of  mountains  and  park  lands  at  its  back  and 
the  great  level  plains  at  its  feet  to  the  east,  and 
the  main  ridge  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  a  little 
back  but  flanking-  it  on  the  north  and  south. 

The  summit  of  Pike's  Peak  rises  14,140  feet 
above  the  sea  level,  but  the  great  plain  at  its 
base  is  6,000  feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  peak, 
therefore,  rises  only  about  8,000  feet  above  the 
general  level  of  the  surrounding  country.  The 
peak  was  discovered  and  explored  by  Colonel 
Pike  in  1806,  and  received  its  name  from  him. 
When  gold  was  discovered  in  Colorado  in  1858, 
the  Pike's  Peak  gold  region  became  famous, 
though  no  gold  was  mined  in  its  immediate  neigh- 
borhood. 

The  peak  itself  is  not  a  pointed  pinnacle  but  a 
great  rounded  swell  of  the  mountain  ridge,  steep 
and  rocky  on  some  of  its  edges,  but  with  long 
slopes  and  spurs  reaching  out  toward  the  neigh- 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  175 

boring"  mountain  masses.  But  its  sides  are 
seamed  with  mighty  gorges  and  chasms,  glitter- 
ing with  snow  and  ice.  During  the  greater  part 
of  the  year  the  peak  is  plainly  distinguished  from 
the  neighboring  cones  by  its  greater,  height  and 
its  white,  snow  covered  top  and  sides.  "The 
summit  is  nearly  level,  embracing  about  forty 
acres,  and  composed  of  angular  slabs  and  blocks 
of  coarse,  disintegrating  granite.  It  affords  one 
of  the  grandest  views  on  the  North  American 
continent,  extending  nearly  150  miles  in  all  direc- 
tions." But  it  is  only  occasionally  that  the  tour- 
ist can  get  such  a  clear  view  from  its  summit. 
But  to  survey  at  one  sweep  a  country  larger 
than  the  state  of  Illinois  is  worth  the  trouble  of 
a  mountain  climb.  Although  Colorado  has  a  dry, 
clear  atmosphere  and  rain  is  infrequent  the 
mountain  peaks  are  often  wrapped  in  clouds. 
The  higher  ridges  and  peaks  draw  the  clouds  and 
moisture,  though  the  plains  at  their  feet  may  be 
clothed  in  constant  sunlight. 

But  Pike's  Peak  itself  is  only  the  most  promi- 
nent among  a  large  group  of  noteworthy  objects 
in  this  neighborhood,  among  which  are  Manitou 
and  Colorado  Springs,  The  Garden  of  the  Gods, 
Cheyenne  Canon,  Monument  Park,  Glen  Eyre, 
The  Cave  of  the  Winds,  besides  the  foot-trail  and 
the  railroad  to  the  top  of  Pike's  Peak  and  many 
other  mountain  resorts  and  scenic  wonders.  Many 
thousands  of  people  visit  the  Pike's  Peak  coun- 


176  Special  Method. 

try  every  year  to  enjoy  the  great  number  of  na- 
ture's grand  and  beautiful  works. 

Just  east  of  the  foot  of  the  mountain  on  a  level 
plain,  6,000  feet  above  the  sea,  stands  the  beauti- 
ful city  of  Colorado  Springs,  with  its  shaded 
streets,  fine  hotels,  and  great  number  of  summer 
homes.  Many  rich  people  have  built  villas  and 
costly  cottages  for  summer  residence.  Electric 
street  car  lines  reach  to  Manitou  and  Cheyenne 
Canon.  Six  lines  of  railway  run  into  Colorado 
Springs,  bringing  tourists  from  all  directions.  It 
has  become,  therefore,  in  connection  with  the  va- 
rious mountain  resorts,  a  great  center  for  pleasure 
and  health  seekers  from  all  parts  of  the  United 
States. 

About  six  miles  west  of  Colorado  Springs  is 
Manitou  with  its  mineral  springs.  It  lies  in  a 
deep  narrow  valley  at  the  foot  of  Pike's  Peak 
with  lofty  mountain  slopes  on  either  side,  a  moun- 
tain stream  passing  through  its  center,  and  the 
snow  covered  top  of  the  peak  seen  through  a 
notch  in  the  lower  mountains.  Beside  the  moun- 
tain stream,  in  the  midst  of  the  town,  is  a  park 
with  mineral  springs,  where  thousands  of  tourists 
drink  for  health  or  for  curiosity.  "Manitou  lies 
in  a  cup-like  glen,  surrounded  by  mountains,  and 
has  for  an  impressive  background,  high  above  the 
surrounding  summits,  the  impressive  majesty  of 
Pike's  Peak.  Its  regular  inhabitants  number 
perhaps   1,500  or  2,000.     There  are  two  electric 


Geography  for  tlie  Fourth  Grade.  177 

light  plants  and  three  miles  of  streets  lighted  by 
the  arc  light;  a  beautiful  avenue  eighty  feet  wide 
runs  through  the  village.  On  either  side  of  this 
avenue,  on  the  mountain  side  may  be  seen  many 
mansions,  villas  and  cottages.  In  the  very  cen- 
ter of  the  town  are  the  springs,  enclosed  within 
pleasure  grounds,  sparkling  and  bubbling  from 
their  hidden  reservoirs.  Hotels  there  are  in  pro- 
fusion; boarding  houses,  cottages,  almost  any 
kind  of  retreat  or  home  for  a  traveler."  There 
are  also  arcade  paths,  secluded  nooks,  smooth 
curving  drive  ways,  cool  and  shady  parks,  hang- 
ing rustic  bridges,  paths  up  the  mountain  sides, 
and  lookout  points  hundreds  of  feet  above  the 
valley.  More  than  150,000  people  are  said  to 
visit  this  spot  every  year.  Farther  up  the  canon 
toward  the  foot  of  Pike's  Peak  are  iron  springs 
and  hotels  on  the  mountain  side.  Instead  of  liv- 
ing in  hotels  or  cottages,  some  people  bring  tents 
and  camp  out  along  the  lower  slopes.  Prom 
Manitou  the  old  trail  leads  twelve  miles  to  the 
summit  of  the  Peak.  A  carriage  road  now  also 
reaches  the  top.  But  more  comfortable  still,  a 
cog-wheel  railroad  ascends  the  mountain  from 
Manitou  and  puts  the  summit  within  easy  reach 
of  all. 

A  little  north  of  the  road  from  Colorado  Springs 
to  Manitou  lies  that  region  of  curious  wonders 
known  as  the  Garden  of  the  Gods.  It  consists  of 
steep,  towering  rocks  rising  hundreds  of  feet  into 


178  Special  Method. 

the  air,  some  red  like  terra  cotta,  some  nearly 
white,  with  here  and  there  curiously  fantastic 
sha]3es  like  bears,  or  elephants,  or  other  animals. 
As  we  enter  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  we  "pass  in 
between  massive  portals  of  rock,  of  brilliant  terra 
cotta  red,  and  enter  upon  a  plain,  miles  in  extent, 
covered  in  all  directions  with  magnificent  isolated 
masses  of  the  same  striking  color,  each  lifting-  it- 
self against  the  wonderful  blue  of  the  Colorado 
sky  with  great  distinctness  '  It  seems  as  if  giants 
had  been  at  some  rude  sport  and  had  piled  up 
these  immense  slabs  as  if  to  astonish  the  puny 
race  of  men.  "Here  a  battlemented  wall  is  pierced 
by  a  round  window;  there  a  cluster  of  slender 
spires  lift  themselves,  beyond  a  leaning  tower 
starts  upward  and  a  cube  of  rock  as  large  as  a 
dwelling  house  is  balanced  on  a  pivot-like  point 
at  the  base,  as  if  a  child's  strength  could  upset  it." 
In  the  background  of  all  this  is  the  great  moun- 
tain wall  with  the  white  summit  of  the  giant  peak 
above. 

A  few  miles  to  the  south,  but  easily  reached  by 
carriage  or  by  electric  car  from  Colorado  Springs, 
is  Cheyenne  Canon,  a  deep  gorge  in  the  foot-hills 
through  which  a  mountain  stream  Hows.  The 
canon  is  narrow  and  deep  and  winding,  the  dark 
rocks  towering  hundreds  of  feet  perpendicularly 
above  the  path  at  the  bottom.  After  an  hour's 
walk  or  ride  up  through  the  canon  we  reach  the 
foot  of  the  seven  falls  or  the  successive  springs 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  179 

of  this  mountain  stream  as  it  comes  leaping"  down 
the  mountain  sides  to  reach  the  more  level  bottom 
of  the  rocky  gorge.  The  scenery  of  this  canon  is 
very  impressive. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  experiences  of 
this  mountain  region  is  an  old  fashioned  trip  on 
foot  or  on  horseback  from  Manitou  to  the  summit 
of  Pike's  Peak.  We  secured  saddle  horses,  and 
set  out  in  the  morning  about  eight  o'clock  for  the 
twelve-mile  journey.  Passing  the  iron  spring, 
from  which  we  drank  strength  for  the  journey,  we 
entered  the  great  canon  of  the  Pike's  Peak  trail, 
and  followed  it  for  six  miles  or  more.  It  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  vale  in  which  Manitou  lies,  a 
crooked,  winding  valley,  rising  steadily  upward. 
The  mountain  sides  which  formed  its  borders 
were  sometimes  covered  with  forests  of  evergreen. 
Close  to  the  mountain  torrent,  and  sometimes 
mingled  with  the  pines,  were  groves  of  cotton- 
wood.  The  lower  valley  was  strewn  with  mighty 
bowlders,  as  tall  as  the  tree  tops  and  standing 
alone,  as  if  some  giant  hand  had  hurled  them  from 
the  mountain  tops.  The  path  rose  sometimes 
many  feet  above  the  stream,  and  again  ran  close 
by  its  side,  giving  great  variety  of  beautiful  pic- 
tures of  this  winding  valley.  The  trees,  flowers, 
and  grasses  were  all  in  the  freshness  of  June.  But 
when  we  reached  the  end  of  this  canon,  and  turned 
on  our  track  to  climb  the  rugged  backbone  of  the 
giant,  the  scenery  was  almost  entirely  changed. 


180  Special  Method. 

It  was  too  steep  to  go  straight  up  the  slope,  so 
we  went  up  long,  slanting  paths,  along  the  side 
of  the  mountain,  round  projecting  spurs,  and  at 
times  zigzagging-  our  way,  till  we  were  beyond 
timber-line,  eleven  thousand  feet  above  the  sea. 
From  here  on  the  journey  upward  was  a  dismal 
one,  so  far  as  the  mountain  on  which  we  were 
climbing  was  concerned.  It  was  simply  a  rough, 
rocky  path  up  a  bleak  and  barren  mountain  side; 
but  we  began  now  to  get  magnificent  views  of 
mountain  ranges  and  peaks  in  the  distance.  Grad- 
ually the  surrounding  summits  began  to  sink  be- 
neath our  feet,  and  we  could  see  distant  mountain 
chains  a  hundred  and  more  miles  away.  A  vast 
wilderness  of  mountain  scenery  opened  out  toward 
the  west,  to  the  south  and  north,  and  now  and 
then  we  would  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  level  plains 
stretching  eastward.  It  grew  cloudy  as  we  as- 
cended, and  our  view  of  the  mountains  was  not 
constant.  Before  reaching  the  summit,  a  passing 
cloud  enveloped  us  in  its  chilly  folds  and  we  could 
see  nothing.  A  half  mile  or  more  before  sighting 
the  top  we  came  upon  a  wide  snowdrift,  and  leav- 
ing our  horses  we  scrambled  across  the  snow  and 
up  a  rocky  path  for  some  distance,  and  came  out 
upon  the  broad  summit  of  the  mountain,  strewn 
with  such  big  granite  bowlders  that  it  was  diffi- 
cult in  most  places  to  walk  about.  The  summit 
house  was  a  low  stone  structure,  with  heavy  walls 
to   prevent   blowing   down.      For   the  wind  fre- 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  181 

quently  blows  at  a  terrific  speed  across  this 
summit.  They  furnished  us  with  hot  coffee,  and 
we  spent  two  hours  upon  the  top  before  starting 
home  again.  Fogs  or  clouds  were  hanging  about 
the  brow  of  the  mountain,  and  sometimes  drifted 
across  its  top,  and  our  views  from  the  summit 
were  not  full  and  clear,  but  we  could  catch  occa- 
sional views  of  Manitou,  Colorado  Springs,  and 
the  eastern  plains,  and  of  the  mighty  wilderness 
of  mountains  on  the  other  side.  We  also  walked 
about  the  summit,  and  tried  to  peer  down  the 
great  gorges  which  seam  the  mountain  on  two 
sides. 

The  rarified  air  of  the  mountain  top  gave  some 
of  us  a  headache,  and  we  were  not  sorry  to  start 
home  again.  At  this  time  the  government  kept 
up  a  signal  station  at  the  top.  Two  men  re- 
mained upon  the  peak,  even  in  winter,  and  tel- 
egraphed daily  the  weather  observations  to 
Colorado  Springs.  In  winter  snow  and  ice  were 
piled  up  many  feet  deep  about  the  summit  house, 
and  they  could  not  venture  out  for  three  months 
or  more.  As  we  descended  upon  our  homeward 
journey,  a  heavy  storm  of  rain  came  up  and  gave 
us  such  a  thorough  soaking  for  two  hours  that  we 
were  fully  convinced  that  the  rains  in  Colorado 
love  the  mountain  slopes.  About  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening  we  rode  into  Manitou,  stiff,  hungry, 
and  drenched,  and  almost  completely  exhausted 
?.fter  twenty-four  miles  of  mountaineering. 


78'2  Special  Method. 

A  trip  by  rail  would  be  doubtless  much  easier 
and  more  comfortable,  but  a  trip  on  foot  or  on 
horseback  gives  the  best  opportunities  for  sight- 
seeing", and  for  those  who  wish  to  catch  the  spirit 
of  the  mountains,  and  drink  in  its  rugged  strength 
and  health,  a  foot  journey  is  the  opportunity. 

Many  people  spend  a  month  or  two  among  these 
mountains,  climbing"  the  ridges  and  mountain 
paths,  drinking  of  the  mineral  springs,  taking  in 
the  pure  and  bracing  air  of  this  elevated  region, 
and  enjoying  the  immense  variety  and  grandeur  of 
mountain  scenery  and  life.  There  are  very  many 
other  interesting  places,  deserving  a  full  descrip- 
tion, such  as  the  Cave  of  the  Winds,  with  its  laby- 
rinth of  caverns  and  beautiful  grottoes.  We 
entered  it  from  a  mountain  side  two  or  three  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  bottom  of  the  valley.  Monu- 
ment Park,  also,  with  its  host  of  sculptured  forms 
in  rock  as  nature  has  chiseled  them  out,  Glen  Eyre 
near  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  with  its  chimneyed 
rocks  and  grand  mountain  gorge  are  much  visited. 
But  there  is  no  limit  to  the  attractions  of  such  a 
wonderland  of  mountains  and  valleys.  The  Colo- 
rado Midland  Railroad  passes  up  through  the  val- 
ley beyond  Manitou,  and  at  Green  Mountain  Falls, 
nine  miles  from  Manitou,  is  a  beautiful  summer 
home,  8, 000  feet  above  the  sea,  with  hotels,  springs, 
and  a  deep  valley  set  in  surrounding  mountains  to 
protect  it  from  the  storms. 

In  addition  to  the  thirteen  topics  already  given 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  183 

m  full,  the  following  seven  topics  are  simply  out- 
lined. The  teacher  may  be  able  to  work  these  out 
from  cyclopedias,  geographical  readers,  magazine 
articles,  railroad  guides,  or  from  other  sources. 
They  make  the  list  of  twenty  topics  for  fourth 
grade  complete. 

1.   Corn  and  Livestock  in  Illinois. 

(a)  Planting  and  cultivating  the  corn. 

(b)  Husking,  cribbing,  and  shipping. 

(c)  Fattening  stock  on  corn,  and  shipping. 

(d)  The  stock  yards  in  Chicago. 

(e)  Other  grains  and  farm  produce. 

(/)  Comparison    of    Illinois    with    neighboring 
states  as  a  corn  and  stock  producing  region, 
(r/)  Mills  and  factories  using  grain. 
(A)  Railroads  and  canal  for  shipping. 

2.  Iron  Mines  of  Michigan. 

(a)  Location  of  iron  region. 

(b)  The  mine.     Method  of  getting  the  ore. 

(c)  Loading  and  shipping  to  Chicago,   Pitts- 
burgh, etc. 

(d)  Comparison  with  mines  of  Wisconsin,  Min- 
nesota, and  Missouri. 

3.    The   III (ist  Furnace.      Chicago. 

(a)  Construction  of  the  blast  furnace. 

(b)  Filling  up  the  furnace  and  the  materials. 

(c)  The  heating  and  blast. 


184  Special  Method. 

id)  Drawing"  off  ore. 
(e)  Uses  of  pig-iron  in  manufactures. 
(/)  Pittsburg-    compared    with    Chicago    as   a 
center  for  pig-iron  production. 

4.  Chicago  as  a   Trade  Center. 

(a)  Original  site. 

(b)  Making  a  harbor. 

(<■)  Great  products  centering  here:  Pine  lum- 
ber, grain,  live  stock,  iron,  coal,  hard- wood  lum- 
ber, manufactures. 

(d)  Public  works.  Water-works.  Tunnel. 
Parks.     Exposition.     High  buildings. 

(e)  Great  fire.     Losses.     Rebuilding". 
(/)  Universities  and  museums. 

(g)  Manufactures.     List  of  the  most  important. 

(//)  The  canal.  Railroads.  Shipping  on  the 
lake. 

(/)  Comparison  with  Milwaukee,  Duluth,  De- 
troit, Minneapolis,  and  St.  Paul. 

5.  Tobacco  Baiting  in  Kentucky. 

(a)  Soil  needed.     Strength. 

(b)  Cultivating  the  crop. 

(c)  Cutting  and  gathering. 

(d)  Curing.     Tobacco  houses. 

(e)  Louisville  as  a  trade  center. 
(/)  Manufacture  of  tobacco. 

(g)  Compare  Kentucky  with  other  states  as  to- 
bacco producers. 


Geography  for  the  Fourth  Grade.  185 

6.   Sugar  Plantation  in  Louisiana. 

(a)  Raising"  the  cane.     Size  of  fields. 

(b)  Cutting. 

(c)  Crushing  in  sugar  mill. 

(d)  Boiling  the  sap. 

(e)  Refining. 
(/)  Shipping. 

(g)  Sugar    from  other    sources.        Beet    root. 
Maple. 

7.   A   Cattle  Ranch  in   Texas. 

(a)  A  ranch.     Houses,  stables.     Range. 

{b)  The  cowboys.      Their  skill  and  hardihood. 

(c)  The  round-up.     Wild  horses. 

(d)  Branding  cattle.     Loss  of  cattle.     Storms. 

(e)  Shipping  to  market. 

(/)  The  region  of  cattle  ranges. 
(g)  Feeding  cattle  in  the  corn  belt. 
(h)  Centers  for  packing  business. 


186  Special  Method. 


CHAPTER     III. 


Type  Studies  in  Geography. 

In  devising-  a  plan  for  geographical  study  at 
least  two  important  problems  must  be  met: 

1.  The  selection  of  a  few  important  representa- 
tive ideas  out  of  the  countless  multitude  of  facts. 

2.  A  method  of  approach  to  these  ideas  which 
shall  instruct  and  interest  the  children. 

The  cpaantity  of  geographical  knowledge  is 
practically  infinite,  a  hundred  times  what  any 
child  can  master.  A  wise  choice  of  matter  is 
therefore  imperative. 

A  proper  study  of  types  offers,  we  believe,  a 
clear  solution  of  both  these  problems. 

If  not  more  than  twenty  topics  are  taken  up  dur- 
ing the  year,  from  one  and  one-half  to  two  weeks 
can  be  spent  upon  each  topic.  This  is  time  suffi- 
cient to  give  to  each  important  subject  a  reason- 
ably exhaustive  discussion. 

Now,  what  are  the  advantages  of  such  a  dis- 
cussion of  really  important  types? 

1.  A  clear  and  detailed  comprehension  of  a 
typical  object  in  geography  (however  small  this 
object  may  be)  is  the  key  to  a  large  area  of  geo- 
graphical knowledge.  This  type,  once  clearly 
perceived,  is  the  interpreter  of  very  many  similar 


Type  Studies  in  Geography.  187 

objects.  A  single  coal  mine,  seen  in  itself  and  in 
its  relations  to  the  busy  world,  is  an  almost  per- 
fect type  of  thousands  of  coal  mines,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  other  mines.  A  single  river  or  mountain, 
pictured  out  in  its  variety  of  relations,  is  a  sure 
exemplar  of  many  others  of  the  same  kind.  It  is 
to  be  remembered  that  we  should  always  select 
the  best  types  for  full  study.  The  study  of  a  type 
is  therefore  a  short  avenue  to  the  interpretation 
of  a  large  body  of  knowledge. 

2.  This  detailed  study  of  a  t}7pe  keeps  us  close 
to  the  objects  and  realities  of  the  workaday  world. 
We  are  not  lost  in  general  statements  and  ab- 
stractions, but  are  bumping  constantly  against 
the  varied  facts  of  experience.  In  other  words, 
there  is  a  powerful  realism  in  this  kind  of  study 
which  gives  a  healthy  tonic  effect.  The  worst 
criticism  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  our 
present  teaching  of  geography,  is  that  it  is  ab- 
stract and  unreal.  It  is  formal  and  dry.  We  are 
not  to  forget,  however,  that,  while  such  a  type  is 
very  real  and  concrete,  it  contains  a  general  truth 
of  wide  application.  This  general  nature  of  the 
type,  and  the  extent  of  its  application,  should  be 
seen  before  the  discussion  is  dropped.  Skill  in 
teaching  nearly  every  subject  depends  upon  the 
teacher's  power  to  show  the  relation  between  the 
general  truths  of  a  subject  and  its  particular  ob- 
jects and  facts.  The  type  is  the  true  mediator  be- 
tween these  two  extremes. 


188  Special  Method. 

3.  It  need  scarcely  be  said  that  a  full  treat- 
ment of  a  topic  like  the  pineries  or  the  coal  mine, 
is  thoroughly  instructive  and  interesting  to  chil- 
dren. It  satisfies  a  true  thirst  for  knowledge.  It 
explains  a  hundred  facts  they  are  anxious  to  know 
about.  Instead  of  giving  them  a  few  barren  state- 
ments to  memorize,  it  responds  to  a  child's  in- 
quiries with  a  liberal  supply  of  nourishing  and 
palatable  information. 

4.  The  study  of  causes  and  causal  relations. 

One  of  the  chief  reasons  why  children  are  in- 
terested in  such  a  study  of  a  type  is,  that  it  is,  at 
every  step,  a  study  of  causes.  Children  are  often 
concerned  about  facts,  but  they  are  still  more  in- 
quisitive about  causes.  Unless  their  schooling 
has  been  very  bad,  they  are  strongly  inclined  to 
reason  out  the  causal  relations.  In  the  study  of 
the  pineries,  for  example,  every  step  in  the  pro- 
cess of  lumbering  from  the  skidding  of  the  logs 
in  the  forest  to  the  unloading  of  lumber  on  the 
western  prairies  is  an  adaptation  of  labor,  skill, 
and  machinery  to  the  physical  conditions  imposed 
by  surface,  climate,  rivers,  prairies,  etc.,  a  trac- 
ing of  cause  and  effect.  It  is  a  fine  thing  for  chil- 
dren to  see  this  application  of  labor  and  skill  and 
to  have  their  interest  strongly  awakened  in  many 
forms  of  human  endeavor.  We  should  realize, 
however,  that  causal  relations  can  not  be  clearly 
seen  unless  a  topic  is  treated  with  fullness.  Oil) 
geographies  give  us  a  few  barren,  meager  facts. 


Type  Studies  in  Geography.  189 

too  much  stripped  of  detail  to  show  their  rela- 
tions. By  means  of  the  more  exhaustive  treat- 
ment of  a  typical  subject,  we  see  it  in  its  varied 
causal  relations,  we  perceive  the  modifying-  or 
controlling-  influences  which  determine  its  char- 
acter. In  each  of  the  examples  given,  Illinois 
River,  Coal  Mine,  Prairies,  Pineries,  etc.,  the 
links  which  connect  different  topics  together  are 
welded  by  a  perception  of  causal  relations.  But 
what  is  true  of  these  topics  is  true  of  every  typi- 
cal subject  which  is  delineated  with  sufficient  full- 
ness to  reveal  the  true  causal  sequences.  This  is 
the  point  at  which  outlines  or  brief  epitomes  ut- 
terly fail.  They  may  state  important  facts,  but 
they  cannot  reveal  the  causal  nexus.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  enter  upon  the  deeper  details  in  order  to 
catch  a  glimpse  of  working  causes. 

But  this  more  penetrating"  study  into  a  topic 
brings  us  in  close  contact  with  other  branches  of 
knowledge,  and  so  we  come  to  see  the  importance 
of  the  relations  of  geography  to  other  studies.  A 
full  investigation  of  a  coal  mine,  for  example, 
shows  plainly  how  the  roots  of  geography  are  in- 
tertwined with  the  roots  of  other  sciences.  Chil- 
dren are  almost  certain  to  ask  how  coal  came  to 
be  stored  in  the  earth,  a  question  which  leads  back 
into  the  history  of  the  earth's  crust,  into  atmos- 
pheric and  climatic  conditions,  into  plant  life  and 
to  great  physical  and  chemical  changes.  The  use 
of  powder  and  other  explosive  materials  in  blast- 


i90  Special  Method. 

ing",  the  collection  and  explosion  of  gases  in  mines, 
the  safety-lamp  and  mine  ventilation,  the  steam 
engines,  pumps,  and  ventilating  fans,  the  combus- 
tion of  coal,  the  production  of  coal  gas,  etc.,  are 
topics  that  belong  to  physics,  chemistry,  and 
practical  mechanics.  So  many  and  intimate  are 
the  linkings  with  other  studies  that  the  chief 
danger  of  such  an  exhaustive  treatment  of  a  coal 
mine  is  that  both  teacher  and  class  may  be 
switched  off  the  main  geographical  track,  and  get 
lost  in  the  history  of  geological  changes,  in  the 
chemical  composition  of  coal,  in  the  physics  and 
chemistry  of  the  atmosphere  and  of  explosives  or 
in  some  other  purely  scientific  topic.  The  only 
safety  is  to  grasp  firmly  the  main  outlines  of  the 
geographical  subject  and  to  treat  all  these  other 
sciences,  however  intimate,  as  tributary.  So  far 
as  they  directly  explain  geographical  facts  they 
should  be  drawn  upon. 

To  further  illustrate  the  significance  of  these 
causal  relations  of  geographical  topics  to  each 
other,  and  to  the  natural  sciences,  suppose  we 
give  a  full  description  to  Pike's  Peak  and  vicin- 
ity, including  the  vale  of  Manitou,  the  mineral 
springs,  the  Garden  of  the  Gods,  Cheyenne  Canon 
and  Falls,  the  caves,  the  trail  to  the  Peak,  the 
views  of  distant  mountains,  the  snow  line,  the 
rock-strewn  summit,  the  vegetation,  winds,  air- 
pressure,  the  stratified  and  igneous  rocks,  the 
gorges   and   mountain  torrents,  the   surrounding 


Type  Studies  in  Gcocjraphy.  191 

mountain  groups,  the  railroad  to  the  summit,  the 
peak  in  winter,  etc.  Such  a  particularized  study 
of  a  geographical  type  not  only  brings  out  a 
closely-related  body  of  representative  geograph- 
ical ideas,  causally  bound  tog-ether,  but  it  plunges 
us  deep  among  the  roots  of  the  other  sciences 
upon  which  geography  rests,  e.  g.,  geologic  strata 
and  changes,  the  physics  of  air  pressure,  vegeta- 
tion, and  animal  life  in  mountain  districts;  the 
chemistry  of  mineral  waters,  railroad  engineering 
in  mountain  canons;  winds,  snows  and  meteorol- 
ogy, erosion  by  ice  and  water.  In  the  midst  of 
such  a  region  nature  also  shows  herself  beautiful 
and  refreshing,  or  grand  and  rugged  for  the  cul- 
ture of  the  esthetic  and  religious  sense.  What 
does  the  usual  study  of  geography  give  us  to 
treasure  up  from  such  a  region?  Ought  not  a  de- 
tailed and  instructive  description  of  such  a  type, 
aided  by  pictures,  give  us  a  score  of  attractive 
views  into  the  very  workshop,  of  nature?  From 
the  rock-strewn  summit  of  Pike's  Peak  to  the 
health-giving  springs  that  gush  from  its  roots  at 
Manitou,  this  whole  region  is  bathed  in  science  as 
in  sunlight.  Yet  our  purpose  is  not  to  teach  nat- 
ural science,  but  geography,  as  causally  based 
upon  natural  science. 

True  insight  into  any  topic,  and  appreciation 
of  its  value,  are  based  chiefly  upon  the  causal 
chains  which  link  it  to  other  kinds  of  knowledge. 

5.  A  type-subject   is  the  basis   of  a  series  of 


192  Special  Method. 

comparisons.  The  representative  or  type  idea 
which  it  illustrates  appears  again  and  again  in  a 
multitude  of  kindred  objects.  A  full  graphic  ac- 
count of  the  Illinois  River  from  its  source  to  its 
mouth  is  found,  by  later  comparisons,  to  be  a 
pretty  fair  description  of  a  score  of  other  rivers 
in  the  United  States.  In  the  same  way  the  log- 
ging- industry  in  one  camp  and  along"  one  stream 
is  representative  of  such  camps  throughout  the 
whole  of  the  pineries. 

If,  therefore,  we  are  careful  to  select  good 
types  and  then,  after  treating  them  fully,  to  make 
sufficient  comparisons  to  show  the  modifications 
of  the  type  in  different  localities,  we  shall  gain 
speedily  an  instructive  insight  into  large  areas  of 
geographical  knowledge.  The  wiginal  type-sub- 
ject becomes  then  a  standard  of  measurement  for 
the  multitude  of  similar  subjects  that  are  sure  to 
come  up.  Such  a  clear  type  is  an  interpreter  and 
a  test  of  each  kindred  subject  the  moment  it  ap- 
pears. The  extension  of  a  typical  idea  by  means 
of  comparisons  is  a  good  opportunity  for  the 
children  to  think  and  to  reason  for  themselves. 
If  it  is  a  study  of  rivers,  to  examine  the  map  and 
to  interpret  the  slopes  and  structure,  commerce 
and  cities. 

Comparisons  on  the  basis  of  fully  developed 
types  ate  the  best  means  of  review.  Reviews  by 
means  of  comparing  old  with  new  topics  are  a 
vigorous  and  stimulating  exercise.     They  throw 


Tijpe  Studies  in  Geography.  193 

new  light  on  the  old  facts,  they  interpret  the  new. 
They  group  and  consolidate  geographical  topics 
and  develop  the  power  to  classify  and  organize 
knowledge. 

6.  From  Home  Outwards. — This  movement  from 
home  outwards,  on  the  stepping-stones  of  great 
typical  subjects,  is  quite  in  contrast  to  the  usual 
analytic  treatment  of  geography  in  text-books 
and  in  class-rooms.  The  chief  objection  to  our 
plan  seems  to  be  that  it  is  a  somewhat  blind  move- 
ment into  an  unknown  world,  and  that  it  takes  too 
little  notice,  at  the  start,  of  the  great  physical 
and  structural  features  upon  which  geographical 
insight  chiefly  depends.  Rivers,  slopes,  products, 
climate,  and  industries  depend  upon  these  great 
structural  ideas  of  physical  and  mathematical 
geography. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  neglect  these  things 
nor  to  undervalue  their  importance,  but  to  get  at 
them  by  a  different  approach.  In  beginning  geog- 
raphy in  fourth  grade,  we  wish  to  get  at  it  in  a 
more  tangible,  realistic,  and  picturesque  manner. 
A  whole  continent  does  not  seem  to  us  a  suitable 
subject  for  detailed  treatment  in  fourth  grade. 
In  spite  of  sand-building  and  modeling  it  remains 
largely  a  formal  and  barren  subject.  Short  sur- 
veys of  the  whole  world  and  a  somewhat  fuller 
treatment  of  North  America  may  well  preface  the 
series  of  typical  studies  we  have  outlined.  But 
they  should  be  brief   and  preliminary,  merely  a 


194  Special  Method. 

bird's-eye  view.  By  a  constant  use  of  wall  maps 
of  the  United  States  and  of  North  America,  by 
means  of  the  broader  comparisons  and  surveys 
which  close  up  the  treatment  of  every  typical 
subject,  we  are  steadily  marching"  toward  a  clear 
and  definite  understanding  of  the  great  physical 
features  of  the  Mississippi  Valley  and  of  North 
America.  The  characteristic  regions  of  produc- 
tion are  brought  out  with  great  distinctness,  and 
when  we  finally  reach  the  point  where  the  Mis- 
sissippi valley  as  a  whole  can  be  surveyed,  how 
rich  and  varied  do  its  resources  appear!  What 
variety  of  surface,  landscape,  and  climate!  How 
closely  connected  by  water  and  rail!  The  whole 
Mississippi  Valley  finally  becomes  the  type  of  a 
mighty  river  basin,  with  which  the  proudest  and 
most  fruitful  river  basins  of  the  world  may  be  later 
compared. 

7.  To  what  extent  does  the  series  of  types, 
which  we  have  outlined,  cover  the  whole  field  of 
geographical  studies  for  these  grades?  Only  a  few 
topics  are  fully  treated  and  many  important  facts 
may  appear  to  be  neglected.  How  far  will  the 
product  of  such  a  year's  study  be  complete  and 
systematic  rather  than  fragmentary  and  discon- 
nected ?  It  is  not  claimed  that  'the  treatment  of 
single  types  will  give  fullness  and  completeness 
to  these  studies,  but  only  that  the  series  of  types 
furnishes  a  safe  central  line  of  operations.  To 
supplement  and  complete  the  work  with  types  we 


Type  Studies  in  Geography.  195 

shall  need  map  studies  and  map  drawings,  compre- 
hensive surve}Ts,  reviews,  and  drills,  and  abundant 
use  of  text-books  and  wall  maps.  The  formation 
of  important  and  significant  series  of  geographical 
objects  will  bind  together  the  larger  units  as  well 
as  the  smaller.  For  example,  the  great  commer- 
cial routes  of  the  Mississippi  valley  from  east 
to  west,  and  from  north  to  south,  the  climatic 
zones,  the  large  river  valleys  and  mountain  chains 
will  bind  together  the  separate  facts  into  larger 
series  and  complexes. 

But  the  type  studies  themselves,  if  followed 
out,  will  lead  to  an  organic  building  up  of  large 
geographical  groups  and  sequences.  The  study 
of  Pike's  Peak  and  the  neighboring  mountain 
cluster,  when  compared  with  Gray's,  Fremont's, 
and  the  Spanish  peaks,  leads  on  to  a  knowledge 
of  the  main  ridge  of  the  Rocky  mountains  of 
which  they  are  striking  parts.  The  study  of  Lake 
Superior  leads  to  an  understanding  of  the  series  of 
great  lakes  and  of  this  important  line  of  water 
traffic  between  the  east  and  west.  The  description 
of  the  hardwood  forests  of  Indiana  is  incomplete 
till  the  whole  extensive  Ohio  valley,  with  the  trib- 
utary streams,  is  drawn  in.  The  very  idea  of  a 
type  study  involves  the  necessity  of  reaching  out 
so  as  to  embrace  a  large  number  of  kindred  ob- 
jects into  one  connected  series  or  group.  If  we 
have  succeeded  in  selecting  the  important  types 
of   the  Mississippi  Valley,   a  proper  comparison 


196  Special  Method, 

and  extension  of  these  types  will  draw  in  most  of 
the  cities,  rivers,  lakes,  mountains,  etc.,  that  de- 
serve a  child's  attention.  If  any  are  left  out,  it 
is  because  they  are  not  important  or  character- 
istic enough  to  demand  notice.  We  are  disposed 
to  omit  all  geographical  names  which  have  noth- 
ing in  particular  to  recommend  them,  nothing 
which  they  help  to  illustrate  or  explain.  A  great 
many  geographical  objects  are  of  local  importance, 
of  which  a  child,  for  the  present,  can  afford  to 
remain  entirely  ignorant. 

Our  further  plan  is  to  follow  in  fifth  grade  a 
series  of  type  studies  through  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  States,  British  America  and  Mexico,  clos- 
ing fifth  grade  work  with  a  conclusive  survey  of 
North  America  as  a  whole.  North  America  then 
becomes  our  type  of  a  continent  with  which  we 
may  set  out  to  measure  more  accurately  the  other 
continents  of  the  world.  Our  general  movement, 
is  toward  ever  larger  and  more  complex  wholes. 
It  is,  in  the  main,  synthetic. 


Class- iioom  Work.  197 


CHAPTER  IV. 


Method  op  Class-Room  Work. 

The  method  of  treating-  types  in  class-room 
instruction  is  discussed  more  fully  in  the  book  on 
'■Method  in  the  Recitation,  "but  its  particular  ap- 
plication to  the  elementary  geography  will  be  in 
place  in  closing  up  our  discussion  of  Special 
Method  in  this  subject. 

Our  plan  of  work  for  third  and  fourth  grades, 
as  suggested  in  the  foregoing  pages,  is  essentially 
a  method  for  oral  instruction.  This  is  necessarily 
so  in  the  home  geography  of  the  third  grade,  and 
is  equally  involved  in  our  type  studies  of  the 
fourth  grade.  What  method  of  instruction  should 
be  adopted  in  fourth  grade  so  that  children  will 
get  a  clear  and  adequate  understanding  of  a  coal 
mine  or  of  Lake  Superior,  or  of  the  lower  Missis- 
sippi? We  are  not  in  favor  of  putting  a  book  in 
the  hands  of  children  at  this  age,  although  the 
maps,  pictures,  and  printed  matter  in  a  good 
book  may  be  helpful.  The  teacher  is  more  im 
portant  in  such  work  than  any  text-book.  Let 
him  handle  and  present  and  discuss  the  subject 
with  the  children.  This  involves  a  good  share  of 
the  art  of  teaching.  It  implies  a  mastery  of  the 
subject,  an   understanding   of    the   children   and 


WL  Special  Method. 

a  practical  acquaintance  with  the  technique  of 
instruction,  such  as  discipline,  narrative  power, 
graphic  representation  on  blackboard,  thorough- 
ness, and  drill.  The  effort  to  acquire  skill  in  this 
kind  of  oral  treatment  and  discussion  of  topics  is 
well  worthy  the  ambition  of  earnest  teachers.  It 
is  not  a  thing  of  easy  attainment,  and  yet,  if  sue 
cessful,  it  gives  uncommon  zest  and  spirit  to  the 
teachers  work.  We  will  attempt  to  indicate  some 
of  the  imperatives  which  the  teacher  must  lay 
upon  himself  if  he  seeks  success  along  this  line  ot 
effort.  We  may  remark  in  passing-  that  many 
teachers  are  inclined  to  look  upon  all  definite  re- 
quirements as  limitations  to  their  freedom  and 
individuality.  But  thoughtful  teachers  are  seek- 
ing for  definite  channels  along  which  to  work  out 
their  freedom  and  individuality.  They  are  even 
willing  to  submit  to  laws  if  they  lead  to  success 
and  to  a  better  regulated  activity. 

For  teachers  who  are  seeking  skill  and  mastery 
in  the  oral  treatment  of  topics  we  will  suggest 
the  following  points: 

1.  Each  topic  or  type  should  be  grasped  as  a 
whole.  The  type  idea  which  the  particular  illus- 
tration exemplifies  should  stand  out  clearly  in 
mind.  This  requirement  is  a  preliminary  and 
preparation  of  good  teaching  rather  than  a  part 
of  it.  The  type  idea  may  not  come  out  at  all  for  a 
while  in  the  instruction  of  children,  but  it  stands 
in  the  background  of  the  teacher's  mind  all  the 


Class-Bo&m  Work,  199 

while  and  regulates  his  progress.  This  central 
idea  or  line  of  thought  is  the  pivot  upon  which 
the  whole  discussion  hinges.  It  gives  the  teacher 
a  true  perspective  in  the  treatment  of  his  subject, 
it  tells  how  much  or  how  little  detail  is  needed  in 
special  topics,  and  how  far  it  is  safe  to  trace  the 
relations  to  other  subjects  and  into  other  studies. 
In  short,  the  type  idea  gives  the  teacher  a  safe 
center  of  operations. 

2.  Each  topic  or  subordinate  part  of  the  larger 
whole  should  stand  out  clear  and  sharp.  Its  dis- 
tinctness should  not  be  blurred  by  its  close  rela- 
tion to  other  topics.  The  whole  series  of  related 
topics,  constituting  a  larger  whole,  should  be 
worked  out  beforehand  by  the  teacher  and  after- 
wards with  the  children,  so  that  they  not  only 
master  the  ideas  but  fall  into  logical  habits  of 
thinking  and  learning. 

3.  We  deem  it  well  for  both  teacher  and  taught 
to  preserve  a  neat  copy  of  this  outline  of  topics 
from  day  to  day  through  the  year.  It  is  a  stand- 
ing proof  of  systematic  and  careful  progress,  and 
a  good  basis  for  reviews.  It  will  be  serviceable 
in  language  compositions,  and  the  outlines  of 
other  oral  recitations  in  literature  or  history,  in 
natural  science  and  in  language,  should  be  neatly 
preserved  in  the  same  book. 

4.  In  order  to  acquire  the  power  of  clear  and 
vivid  presentation  of  topics,  the  teacher  must  ex- 
ercise himself  in  a  variety  of  ways.    He  must  train 


200  Special  Method. 

his  own  imagination  to  picture  out  geographical 
scenes  and  objects  with  great  clearness.  A  con- 
stant appeal  to  the  constructive  imagination  of 
children  is  necessar}7,  or  they  will  deceive  both 
themselves  and  the  teacher  with  words  and 
phrases  where  distinct  images  and  clearly  defined 
pictures  are  absent.  In  this  work  of  stimulating 
original  thought  power  in  children,  the  teacher 
needs  all  the  devices  of  graphic  illustration, 
whether  it  be  word  picturing,  black-board  dia- 
gram, comparison  with  homely  and  familiar  ob- 
jects, appeal  to  the  children's  experience  and 
observation,  sand  modeling,  the  skillful  use  of 
pictures  or  even  drawing  pictures,  gesture,  and 
facial  expression.  Of  course  the  art  of  plain  and 
simple  description  and  narrative  is  to  be  culti- 
vated. It  is  one  of  the  prime  elements  in  the 
teaching  art. 

5.  It  is  one  thing  for  the  teacher  to  do  his  duty 
in  oral  lessons  and  another  to  get  children  to  do 
theirs.  In  good  oral  teaching  at  least  half  the 
burden  of  work  must  be  carried  by  the  children. 
This  again  calls  for  a  variety  of  skill  and  device. 
In  the  midst  of  the  presentation  and  discussion  of 
a  topic  children  need  to  be  pointedly  and  skill- 
fully questioned  from  time  to  time  so  as  to  be 
thrown  back  upon  their  own  resources,  to  make 
use  of  previous  experience  and  to  think  and  judge 
correctly.  Such  questions  force  children  to  self- 
activity  and  original  thought.      When  a  topic  has 


Class- Room  Work.  2Ux 

been  properly  presented  and  discussed  :t  falls  to 
the  children  to  reproduce  it  with  reasonable  full- 
ness and  accuracy.  In  this  respect  it  is  the  teach- 
er's function  to  hold  the  children  to  a  strict 
performance  of  duty,  else  oral  instruction  will  de- 
generate. When  the  children  find  that  this  re- 
quirement is  unavoidable  and  sure  they  will  be 
jDrepared  for  the  effort.  It  will  also  take  away 
from  the  teacher  the  danger  of  talking"  too  much. 
In  oral  instruction  class  attention  is  almost  an 
absolute  requirement.  Not  only  is  a  strong"  con- 
trol desirable  but  close  watchfulness  to  detect  in- 
attention, readiness  to  throw  out  a  question  or 
hint,  to  call  back  the  wandering  thought.  Variety 
of  tests  may  also  be  employed,  brief  written 
tests,  board  work,  map  drawing,  as  well  as  oral 
reproduction. 

6.  In  the  third  and  fourth  grades,  where  chil- 
dren are  getting  their  introduction  to  geographical 
ideas,  an  oral  treatment  is  particularly  in  place 
because  it  is  so  concrete  and  real,  so  graphic  and 
interesting.  The  teacher  who  is  trying  to  make 
a  success  of  oral  teaching  will  naturally  resort  to 
graphic  methods  of  presentation,  black-board  dia- 
grams, pictures,  and  descriptive  details,  which 
prove  so  instructive  and  full  of  meaning.  In  later 
years,  when  children  have  collected  a  larger  quan- 
tity of  illustrative  material  and  have  learned  to 
think  along"  more  general  and  abstract  lines,  they 
may  study  from  books  and    deal    with  laws  and 


202  Special  Method. 

principles.  But  in  these  early  years  the  more 
objective  method,  with  oral  presentation,  discus- 
sion, and  reproduction,  is  better  adapted  to  chil- 
dren, and  to  the  development  of  skill  and  mastery 
in  the  teacher. 

7.  The  teacher  who  will  learn  to  teach  geog- 
raphy well  along  the  line  of  excellence  which  we 
have  suggested,  will  also  teach  reading,  arithmetic, 
and  grammar  better.  Even  with  a  text  book  in 
his  hand  he  will  do  better,  because  he  will  seek 
to  illustrate  and  bring  out  what  the  text  states  in 
such  brief  or  abstract  form.  In  other  words,  he 
will  catch  the  spirit  of  a  right  pedagogical 
method. 

We  are  not  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  many 
practical  difficulties  in  schools  militate  against 
the  successful  execution  of  such  a  plan  as  we  have 
outlined.  Text  books,  courses  of  study,  daily 
programs,  the  presence  of  two  or  more  classes, 
etc.,  are  not  in  harmony  with  this  plan.  But 
while  it  will  need  to  be  modified  in  adapting  it  to 
most  schools,  it  is  still  true  that  our  text  books 
and  courses  of  study  need  to  be  supplemented  and 
improved  by  such  a  method  of  oral  instruction. 


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PUBLIC-SCHOOL.  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
Bloomington,  Illinois. 


flDcflDurr^'s  Books  for  teachers- 

McMurry's  General  Hethod. 

Is  a  book  of  224  pages,  neatly  bound  in  cloth.  It  discusses,  in  a  clear  and 
Interesting  manner,  the  general  principles  of  education  and  instruction.  Dr. 
Charles  A.  McMurrv  should  be  classed  among  the  American  students  of  Her- 
barf  he  studied  the  system  of  that  great  educator  in  Germany,  after  an  ex- 
perience in  the  schools"  of  America  that  made  him  familiar  with  their  needs, 
and  with  the  characteristics  of  American  thought.  The  price  of  the  new  edi- 
tion is  75  cents. 

The  Method  of  the  Recitation. 

By  Dr.  chas.  a.  McMurry  and  Dr.  Frank  M.  McMurry. 

This  follows  the  General  Method  as  a  sequel.  It  is  planned  to  show  the 
working  out  in  the  class  recitation  of  the  principles  discussed  in  the  General 
Method.  After  a  short  introduction,  a  series  of  class  lessons  in  different  studies 
is  given  in  full  as  a  basis  for  a  practical  discussion  of  recitation  work. 

It  is  a  volume  of  319  pages,  bound  in  full  clotn.     Price,  $i  .oo. 

Special  Method  in  Reading. 

This  book  of  13"  pages,  by  Dr.  Charles  A.  McMurry,  treats  of  the  subject 
of  Reading  in  all  the  grades  below  the  High  School. 
In  full  cloth,  price,  40  cents. 

Special  Method  in  Literature  and  History. 

In  this  little  book  of  114  pages,  Dr.  McMurry  proceeds  to  the  application  of 
the  principles  developed  in  the  General  Method,  to  the  teaching  of  Literature 
and  History  in  the  eight  grades  of  the  grammar  school  course.  For  the 
three  lower  grades,  he  treats  of  the  Fairy  Stories,  Myths,  Robinson  Crusoe,  and 
similar  literature.  For  fourth  and  fifth  grades,  he  develops  the  method  of 
using  Pioneer  History  Stories;  and  then  he  treats  of  the  teaching  of  history  in 
each  of  the  three  higher  grades.    Bound  in  cloth,  price,  35  cents. 

Special  Method  in  Geography. 

Dr.  McMurry's  theory  of  the  teaching  of  Geography  is  that  pupils  must 
first  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  some  geographical  topics  which  mav 
stand  as  "type-studies."  to  be  a  key  for  subsequent  acquisitions.  Hence,  he  ex- 
plains pretty  fully  the  study  of  home  geography,  plans  of  excursions,  etc. 
The  closing  chapter  presents  the  method  of  class-room  work. 

Revised  edition,  202  pages,  full  cloth,  50  cents 

Special  Method  in  Science  in  the  Lower  Grades. 

By  Dr.  Chas.  A.  McMurry. 

This  is  a  book  of  267  pages,  bound  in  full,  cloth.  The  first  sixty-five  pages 
are  devoted  to  a  presentation  of  the  aims  of  science  teaching  in  the  grades,  and 
the  method  to  be  pursued.  Following  this  are  full  instructions  to  teachers  how 
to  prepare  themselves  for  teaching  science,  and  a  list  of  the  books  that  will  be 
most  helpful  to  them.  Then  follow  124  pages  of  Illustrative  Lessons  in  which 
the  method  of  teaching  several  of  the  domestic  animals  and  some  trees,  plants, 
insects,  birds,  and  animals,  is  carefully  worked  out  for  the  first  four  grades, 
by  Mrs.  Lida  B.  McMurry,  who  has  great  skill  in  teaching  these  subjects  to 
children. 

Price,  50  cents,  in  full  cloth  binding. 

Course  of  Study  in  the  Eight  Grades. 

In  this  book  of  I5"3  pages,  Dr.  Charles  A.  McMurry  presents  an  outline  for 
each  of  the  eight  grades,  based  upon  what  is  actually  done  in  the  Training 
Schools  of  the  Illinois  Normal  University.  This  is  a  course  of  study  arranged 
so  as  to  realize  in  the  actual  work  of  the  school  the  theory  of  the  correlation  of 
the  common  school  branches  as  set  forth  in  the  educational  writings  of  Herbart. 
Price,  id  tull  cloth  5.)  cents. 

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